The Parson's Tale A Translation into Modern English

The Middle English text is from Larry D. Benson., Gen. ed., The Riverside Chaucer,
Houghton-Mifflin Company; used with permission of the publisher.

Jer. 6o. State super vias et videte, et interrogate de viis antiquis que sit via bona, et ambulate in ea et
invenietes refrigerium animabus vestris, etc.

[75] Our sweet Lord God of heaven, who wants no man to perish but wants that we all come to
the knowledge of him and to the blissful life that is eternal, admonishes us by the prophet
Jeremiah, who says in this way: "Stand upon the ways, and see and ask of old paths (that is to say,
of old opinions) which is the good way, and walk in that way, and you shall find refreshment for
your souls, etc." Many are the spiritual ways that lead folk to our Lord Jesus Christ and to the reign
of glory. [80] Of which ways there is a very noble and a very suitable way, which can not fail to
man nor to woman who through sin has gone astray from the right way to Jerusalem celestial; and
this way is called Penitence, of which man should gladly hearken and enquire with all his heart to
know what is Penitence, and why it is called Penitence, and in how many manners are the actions
or workings of Penitence, and how many species there are of Penitence, and which things pertain
and are suitable to Penitence, and which things hinder Penitence.

Saint Ambrose says that Penitence is the complaining of a man for the guilt that he has done, and
(his desire) no more to do any thing for which he ought to complain. [85] And a certain theologian
says, "Penitence is the lamentation of man who sorrows for his sin and punishes himself because
he has done wrong." Penitence, with specific details, is true repentance of a man that holds
himself in sorrow and other pain for his guilt. And because he must be true penitent, he shall first
bewail the sins that he has done, and steadfastly intend in his heart to have confession by mouth,
and to do satisfaction, and never to do thing for which he ought any more to bewail or to
complain, and to continue in good works, or else his repentance can not avail. For, as says Saint
Isidore (of Seville), "He is a trifler and a foolish talker and no true repentant that once again does a
thing for which he ought to repent." [90] Weeping, and not to stop doing sin, can not avail. But
nonetheless, men should hope that every time that man falls, be it never so often, that he can
arise through Penitence, if he have grace; but certainly it is great doubt. For, as says Saint Gregory,
"Hardly arises out of his sin he, who is burdened with the burden of evil usage." And therefore
repentant folk, who stop sinning and abandon sin ere sin abandons them, holy church holds them
sure of their salvation. And he who sins and truly repents himself in his last hours, holy church yet
hopes for his salvation, by the great mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, for his repentance; but take
the sure way.

[95] And now, since I have declared you what thing is Penitence, now shall you understand that
there are three effects of Penitence. The first is that if a man be baptized after he has sinned. Saint
Augustine says, "Unless he be penitent for his old sinful life, he may not begin the new clean life."
For, certainly, if he be baptized without penitence of his old guilt, he receives the mark of baptism
but not the grace nor the remission of his sins, until he have true repentance. Another deficiency is
this: that men do deadly sin after they have received baptism. [100] The third deficiency is that
men fall into venial sins after their baptism day after day. Thereof says Saint Augustine that
penitence of good and humble folk is the penitence of every day.
The species of Penitence are three. One of them is solemn, another is common, and the third is
private. This penance that is solemn is in two manners; as to be put out of holy church in Lent for
slaughter of children, and such sort of thing. Another is, when a man has sinned openly, of which
sin the fame is openly spoken in the country, and then holy church by judgment compels him to do
open penance. [105] Common penance is what priests enjoin men commonly in certain cases, as
to go perhaps naked in pilgrimages, or barefoot. Private penance is this that men do every day for
private sins, of which we confess ourselves privately and receive private penance.

Now shalt thou understand what is suitable and necessary to true, perfect Penitence. And this
consists of three things: Contrition of Heart, Confession of Mouth, and Satisfaction. For which says
Saint John Crisostom, "Penitence compels a man to accept patiently every pain that to him is
enjoined, with contrition of heart, and shrift of mouth, with satisfaction, and in working of all sorts
of humility." [110] And this is fruitful penitence against three things in which we anger our Lord
Jesus Christ; this is to say, by delight in thinking, by recklessness in speaking, and by wicked sinful
conduct. And against this wicked guilt is Penitence, that can be likened unto a tree.

The root of this tree is Contrition, that hides himself in the heart of him that is true repentant, just
as the root of a tree hides itself in the earth. Of the root of Contrition springs a stalk that bears
branches and leaves of Confession, and fruit of Satisfaction. [115] For which Christ says in his
gospel, "Do the worthy fruit of Penitence"; for by this fruit can men know this tree, and not by the
root that is hid in the heart of man, nor by the branches, nor by the leaves of Confession. And
therefore our Lord Jesus Christ says thus: "By the fruit of them shall you know them." From this
root also springs a seed of grace, the which seed is mother of safety, and this seed is bitter and
hot. The grace of this seed springs from God through remembrance of the day of doom and on the
pains of hell. Of this matter says Solomon that in the dread of God man abandons his
sin. [120] The heat of this seed is the love of God and the desiring of the joy eternal. This heat
draws the heart of a man to God and causes him to hate his sin. For truly there is nothing that
tastes so good to a child as the milk of his nurse, nor nothing is to him more abominable than this
milk when it is mixed with other food. Just so the sinful man who loves his sin, to him it seems
that it is to him the most sweet of any thing; but from that time that he loves firmly our Lord Jesus
Christ, and desires the life eternal, there is to him no thing more abominable. [125] For truly the
law of God is the love of God; for which David the prophet says: "I have loved thy law and hated
wickedness and hate"; he who loves God keeps his law and his word. This tree saw the prophet
Daniel in spirit, upon the vision of the king Nebuchadnezzar, when he counseled him to do
penitence. Penance is the tree of life to them that it receive, and he that keeps himself in true
penitence is blessed, according to the teaching of Solomon.

In this Penitence or Contrition man shall understand four things; that is to say, what is Contrition,
and which are the causes that move a man to Contrition, and how he should be contrite, and what
Contrition avails to the soul. Then is it thus: that Contrition is the true sorrow that a man receives
in his heart for his sins, with steadfast purpose to confess himself, and to do penance, and
nevermore to do sin. [130] And this sorrow shall be in this manner, as says Saint Bernard: "It shall
be heavy and grievous, and very sharp and piercing in heart." First, for man has sinned against his
Lord and his Creator; and more sharp and poignant for he has sinned against his Father celestial;
and yet more sharp and piercing for he has angered and sinned against him that bought him, that
with his precious blood has delivered us from the bonds of sin, and from the cruelty of the devil,
and from the pains of hell.

The causes that ought to move a man to Contrition are six. First a man shall remind himself of his
sins; but let him take care that this remembrance not be to him any delight in any way, but great
shame and sorrow for his guilt. For Job says, "Sinful men do works worthy of
damnation." [135] And therefore says Ezekiel, "I will remember all the years of my life in the
bitterness of my heart." And God says in the Apocalypse, "Remind yourself from whence that you
are fallen"; for before that time that you sinned, you were the children of God and limbs of the
reign of God; but for your sin you have become enslaved, and foul, and members of the fiend,
hated by angels, slander of holy church, and food of the false serpent, perpetual matter of the fire
of hell; and yet more foul and abominable, for you trespass as many times as does the hound that
returns to eat his vomit. And yet are you fouler for your long continuing in sin and your sinful
usage, for which you are rotten in your sin, as a beast in his dung. [140] Such manner of thoughts
make a man to have shame of his sin, and no delight, as God says by the prophet Ezekiel, "You
shall remind yourself of your ways, and they shall displease you." Truly sins are the ways that lead
folk to hell.

The second cause that ought make a man to have disdain of sin is this: that, as says Saint Peter,
"whosoever that does sin is slave of sin"; and sin puts a man in great slavery. And therefore says
the prophet Ezekiel: "I went sorrowful in disdain of myself." Certainly, well ought a man have
disdain of sin and withdraw him from that slavery and villainy. And lo, what says Seneca in this
matter? He says thus: "Though I knew that neither God nor man should never know it, yet would I
have disdain for to do sin." [145] And the same Seneca also says, "I am born to greater things than
to be a slave to my body, or than to make of my body a slave." Nor a fouler slavery can no man
nor woman make of his body than for to give his body to sin. Although were it the foulest churl or
the foulest woman that lives, and least of value, yet is he then more foul and more in servitude.
Ever from the higher degree that man falls, the more is he slave, and more to God and to the
world vile and abominable. O good God, well ought man have disdain of sin, since that through sin
where he was free now is he made bond. [150] And therefore says Saint Augustine: "If thou hast
disdain of thy servant, if he do wrong or sin, have thou then disdain that thou thyself should do
sin." Have regard for thy value, that thou not be too foul to thyself. Alas, well ought they then
have disdain to be servants and slaves to sin, and sorely be ashamed of themselves that God of his
endless goodness has set them in high estate, or given them wit, strength of body, health, beauty,
prosperity, and bought them from the death with his heart-blood, that they so unkindly, in return
for his gentle acts, repay him so villainously to the slaughter of their own souls. [155] O good God,
you women that are of so great beauty, remind yourself of the proverb of Solomon. He says, "He
compares a fair woman that is a fool of their body as like to a ring of gold that were in the snout of
a sow." For right as a sow roots in every ordure, so roots she their beauty in the stinking ordure of
sin.

The third cause that ought to move a man to Contrition is dread of the day of doom and of the
horrible pains of hell. For as Saint Jerome says, "At every time that I remember the day of doom I
quake; [160] for when I eat or drink, or whatever I do, ever it seems to me that the trumpet
sounds in my ear: `Rise up, you that are dead, and come to the judgment.'" O good God, much
ought a man to dread such a judgment, "where we shall be all," as Saint Paul says, "before the
seat of our Lord Jesus Christ"; whereas he shall make a general assembly, whereas no man may be
absent. For certainly there avails no legal excuse nor forgiveness. [165] And not only shall our
faults shall be judged, but also all our works shall openly be known. And, as says Saint Bernard,
"There shall no pleading avail, nor no ingenuity; we shall give reckoning of every idle word." There
shall we have a judge that can not be deceived nor corrupt. And why? For, certainly, all our
thoughts are revealed to him, neither for prayer nor for bribery he shall be corrupt And therefore
says Solomon, "The anger of God will not spare any creature, for prayer nor for gift"; and
therefore, at the day of doom there is no hope of escaping. Wherefore, as says Saint Anselm,
"Very great anguish shall the sinful folk have at that time; [170] there shall the stern and angry
judge sit above, and under him the horrible pit of hell open to destroy him that must acknowledge
his sins, which sins openly are showed before God and before every creature; and in the left side
more devils than heart can imagine, for to harass and draw the sinful souls to the pain of hell; and
within the hearts of folk shall be the biting conscience, and outside shall be the world all burning.
Whither shall then the wretched sinful man flee to hide him? Certainly, he can not hide himself; he
must come forth and show himself." For certainly, as says Saint Jerome, "the earth shall cast him
out of itself, and the sea also, and the air also, that shall be full of thunderclaps and
lightnings." [175] Now truly, whoever will remind himself of these things, I guess that his sin shall
not turn itself into delight, but to great sorrow for dread of the pain of hell. And therefore says Job
to God, "Grant, Lord, that I may a while bewail and weep, ere I go without returning to the dark
land, covered with the darkness of death, to the land of suffering and of darkness, where is the
shadow of death, where there is no order nor ordinance but grisly dread that ever shall last." Lo,
here can you see that Job prayed respite a while to weep and bewail his trespass, for truly one day
of respite is better than all the treasure of this world. And forasmuch as a man can acquit himself
before God by penitence in this world, and not by treasure, therefore should he pray to God to
give him respite a while to weep and bewail his trespass. [180] For certainly, all the sorrow that a
man might make from the beginning of the world is but a little thing at regard of the sorrow of
hell. The cause why Job calls hell the "land of darkness.": understand that he calls it "land" or
earth, for it is stable and never shall fail; "dark," for he who is in hell has a lack of physical light.
For certainly, the dark light that shall come out of the fire that ever shall burn shall turn him all to
pain that is in hell for it shows him to the horrible devils that torment him. "Covered with the
darkness of death" -- that is to say, that he that is in hell shall have lack of the sight of God, for
certainly the sight of God is the life eternal. [185] "The darkness of death" are the sins that the
wretched man has done, which prevent him from seeing the face of God, right as does a dark
cloud betwixt us and the sun. "Land of suffering," because there are three manners of faults,
against three things that folk of this world have in this present life; that is to say, honors,
pleasures, and riches. Instead of honor, have they in hell shame and confusion. For well you know
that men call honor the reverence that man does to man, but in hell is no honor nor reverence. For
certainly, no more reverence shall be done there to a king than to a knave. [190] Honor is also
called great lordship; there shall no creature serve other, but of harm and torment. Honor is also
called great dignity and high rank, but in hell shall they be all stomped upon by devils. And God
says, "The horrible devils shall go and come upon the heads of the damned folk." And this is
forasmuch as the higher that they were in this present life, the more shall they be abated and
defiled in hell. Against the riches of this world shall they have misery of poverty, and this poverty
shall be in four things: In lack of treasure, of which David says, "The rich folk, that embraced and
united all their hearts to treasure of this world, shall sleep in the sleeping of death; and they shall
find in their hands nothing of all their treasure." And moreover the misery of hell shall be in lack of
mete and drink. [195] For God says thus by Moses: "They shall be wasted with hunger, and the
birds of hell shall devour them with bitter death, and the bile of the dragon shall be their drink,
and the venom of the dragon their morsels." And furthermore, their misery shall be in lack of
clothing, for they shall be naked in body as of clothing, save the fire in which they burn, and other
filths; and naked shall they be of soul, as of all manner virtues, which is the clothing of the soul.
Where are then the gay robes, and the soft sheets, and the delicate shirts? Lo, what says God of
them by the prophet Isaiah: that "under them shall be strewed maggots, and their covers shall be
of worms of hell." And furthermore, their misery shall be in lack of friends. For he that has good
friends is not poor; but there is no friend, [200] for neither God nor any creature shall be friend to
them, and every one of them shall hate the other with deadly hate. "The sons and the daughters
shall rebel against father and mother, and kindred against kindred, and chide and despise every
one of those others both day and night," as God says by the prophet Micah. And the loving
children, that once loved so fleshly each other, would every one of them eat other if they might.
For how should they love them together in the pain of hell, when every one of them hated the
other in the prosperity of this life? For trust well, their fleshly love was deadly hate, as says the
prophet David: "Whoso that loves wickedness, he hates his soul." [205] And whosoever hates his
own soul, certainly, he can love no other creature in any manner. And therefore, in hell is no
solace nor no friendship, but ever the more fleshly kinsmen that are in hell, the more curses, the
more chidings, and the more deadly hate there is among them. And furthermore, they shall have a
lack of all manner of pleasures, For certainly, pleasures are a consequent of the appetites of the
five wits, as sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. But in hell their sight shall be full of
darkness and of smoke, and therefore full of tears; and their hearing full of lamentation and of
grinding of teeth, as says Jesus Christ. Their nostrils shall be full of stinking stink; and, as says
Isaiah the prophet, "their tasting shall be full of bitter bile"; [210] and touching of all their body
covered with "fire that never shall quench and with worms that never shall die," as God says by
the mouth of Isaiah. And forasmuch as they shall not suppose that they can die for pain, and by
their death flee from pain, that can they understand by the word of Job, who says, "there is the
shadow of death." Certainly, a shadow has the likeness of the thing of which it is shadow, but
shadow is not the same thing of which it is shadow. Right so fares the pain of hell; it is like death
for the horrible anguish, and why? For it pains them ever, as though they should die at once; but
certainly, they shall not die. For, as says Saint Gregory, "To wretched caitiffs shall be death
without death, and end without end, and lack without end. [215] For their death shall always live,
and their end shall evermore begin, and their lack shall not cease."216] And therefore says Saint
John the Evangelist, "They shall follow death, and they shall not find him; and they shall desire to
die, and death shall flee from them." And also Job says that in hell is no order of rule. And
although it be so that God has created all things in right order, and no thing without order, but all
things are ordained and numbered; yet, nonetheless, they that are damned are not at all in order,
nor hold any order, for the earth nor shall bear them no fruit. [220] For, as the prophet David says,
"God shall destroy the fruit of the earth as from them; nor water shall not give them any moisture,
nor the air any refreshing, nor fire any light." For, as says Saint Basil, "The burning of the fire of
this world shall God give in hell to them that are damned, but the light and the clearness shall be
given in heaven to his children," right as the good man gives flesh to his children and bones to his
hounds. And for they shall have no hope to escape, says Saint Job at the last that "there shall
horror and grisly dread dwell without end." Horror is always dread of harm that is to come, and
this dread shall ever dwell in the hearts of them that are damned. And therefore have they lost all
their hope, for seven causes. [225] First, because God, that is their judge, shall be without mercy to
them; and they can not please him nor any of his saints; nor they can not give any thing for their
ransom; nor they have no voice to speak to him; nor they can not flee from pain; nor they have no
goodness in them, that they can show to deliver them from pain. And therefore says Solomon:
"The wicked man dies, and when he is dead, he shall have no hope to escape from pain." Whoso
then would well understand these pains and consider well that he has deserved these pains for his
sins, certainly, he should have more desire to sigh and to weep than to sing and to play. For, as
says Solomon, "Whoso that had the knowledge to know the pains that are established and
ordained for sin, he would make sorrow." [230] "This knowledge," as says Saint Augustine, "makes
a man to lament in his heart."

The fourth point that ought to make a man to have contrition is the sorrowful remembrance of the
good that he has failed to do here in earth, and also the good that he has lost. Truly, the good
works that he has lost, either they are the good works that he did ere he fell into deadly sin or else
the good works that he did while he lay in sin. Truly, the good works that he did before he fell in
sin are all killed and paralyzed and dulled by the frequent sinning. The other good works, that he
did while he lay in deadly sin, they are utterly dead, as to the life eternal in heaven. [235] Then
these good works that are mortified by frequent sinning, which good works he did while he was in
charity, nor can never revive again without true penitence. And thereof says God by the mouth of
Ezekiel, that "if the righteous man return again from his righteousness and do wickedness, shall he
live?" Nay, for all the good works that he has wrought shall never be in remembrance, for he shall
die in his sin. And upon this chapter says Saint Gregory thus: that "we shall understand this
principally; that when we do deadly sin, it is for nothing then to tell or draw into memory the good
works that we have done before." [240] For certainly, in the doing of the deadly sin, there is no
trust to no good work that we have done before; that is to say, as for to have thereby the life
eternal in heaven. But nonetheless, the good works revive again, and come again, and help, and
help to have the life eternal in heaven, when we have contrition. But truly, the good works that
men do while they are in deadly sin, forasmuch as they were done in deadly sin, they can never
revive again. For certainly, thing that never had life can never revive; and nonetheless, although it
be so that they do not help one to have the life eternal, yet they help to shorten the pain of hell,
or else to get temporal riches, or else that God will the rather illuminate and lighten the heart of
the sinful man to have repentance; [245] and also they help to accustom a man to do good works,
so that the fiend may have the less power of his soul. And thus the courteous Lord Jesus Christ
wishes that no good work be lost, for to some degree it shall help. But, forasmuch as the good
works that men do while they are in good life are all rendered powerless by sin that follows, and
also since all the good works that men do while they are in deadly sin are utterly dead so far as
having the life eternal, well may that man who does no good work sing this new French song, "[Jay
tout perdu mon temps et mon labour I have lost my time and my labor.]" For certainly, sin bereaves
a man of both goodness of nature and also the goodness of grace.[250] For truly, the grace of the
Holy Ghost fares like fire, that can not be idle; for fire fails as soon as it abandons its function, and
right so grace fails as soon as it abandons its function. Then loses the sinful man the goodness of
glory, that only is promised to good men that labor and work. Well may he be sorry then, that
owes all his life to God as long as he has lived, and also as long as he shall live, that has no
goodness with which to pay his debt to God to whom he owes all his life. For trust well, "He shall
give accounts," as says Saint Bernard, "of all the goods that have been given him in this present
life, and how he has spent them, insomuch that there shall not perish a hair of his head, nor a
moment of an hour shall not perish of his time, but that he shall give of it a reckoning."

[255] The fifth thing that ought move a man to contrition is remembrance of the passion that our
Lord Jesus Christ suffered for our sins. For, as says Saint Bernard, "While I live I shall have
remembrance of the difficulties that our Lord Christ suffered in preaching: his weariness in
working, his temptations when he fasted, his long vigils when he prayed, his tears when he wept
for pity of good people, the woe and the shame and the filth that men said to him, of the foul
spitting that men spit in his face, of the buffets that men gave him, of the foul grimaces, and of the
insults that men to him said, of the nails with which he was nailed to the cross, and of all the
remnant of his passion that he suffered for my sins, and not at all for his guilt."[260] And you shall
understand that in man's sin is every manner of order or regulation turned upside down. For it is
true that God, and reason, and sensuality, and the body of man are so arranged that every of
these four things should have lordship over that other, as thus: God should have lordship over
reason, and reason over sensuality, and sensuality over the body of man. But truly, when man
sins, all this order or arrangement is turned upside down. And therefore then, forasmuch as the
reason of man will not be subject nor obedient to God, that is his lord by right, therefore it loses
the lordship that it should have over sensuality, and also over the body of man. [265] And why?
For sensuality rebels then against reason, and by that way reason loses the lordship over
sensuality and over the body. For just as reason is rebel to God, right so is both sensuality rebel to
reason and the body also. And certainly this disorder and this rebellion our Lord Jesus Christ
purchased with his precious body very dear, and hearken in which manner. Forasmuch then as
reason is rebel to God, therefore is man worthy to have sorrow and to be dead. This suffered our
Lord Jesus Christ for man, after he had be betrayed by his disciple, and confined and bound so that
his blood burst out at every nail of his hands, as says Saint Augustine. [270] And furthermore,
forasmuch as reason of man will not daunt sensuality when it can, therefore is man worthy to
have shame; and this suffered our Lord Jesus Christ for man, when they spit in his visage. And
furthermore, forasmuch then as the wretched body of man is rebel both to reason and to
sensuality, therefore is it worthy of the death. And this suffered our Lord Jesus Christ for man
upon the cross, where there was no part of his body free without great pain and bitter suffering.
And all this suffered Jesus Christ, who never sinned. And therefore reasonably may be said by
Jesus in this manner: "Too much am I pained for the things that I never deserved, and too much
defiled by shame that man is worthy to have." And therefore may the sinful man well say, as says
Saint Bernard, "Cursed be the bitterness of my sin, for which there must be suffered so much
bitterness." [275] For certainly, in accord with the various rebellions of our wickedness was the
passion of Jesus Christ ordained in various things. As thus: Certainly sinful man's soul is betrayed
by the devil by covetousness of temporal prosperity, and scorned by deceit when he chooses
fleshly pleasure; and yet is it tormented by impatience of adversity and spat upon by slavery and
subjection of sin; and at the last it is slain finally. For by this disorderliness of sinful man was Jesus
Christ first betrayed, and after that was he bound, he who came to unbind us of sin and pain. Then
was he scorned, he who only should have been honored in all things and by all things. Then was
his visage, that ought to be desired to be seen by all mankind, in which visage angels desire to
look, villainously spat upon. [280] Then was he whipped, who in no thing had sinned; and finally,
then was he crucified and slain. Then was accomplished the word of Isaiah, "He was wounded for
our mideeds and defiled for our felonies." Now since Jesus Christ took upon himself the pain of all
our wickedness, much ought sinful man to weep and bewail, that for his sins God's son of heaven
should all this pain endure.

The sixth thing that ought to move a man to contrition is the hope of three things; that is to say,
forgiveness of sin, and the gift of grace in order to do well, and the glory of heaven, with which
God shall guerdon man for his good deeds. And forasmuch as Jesus Christ gives us these gifts of his
generosity and of his perfect goodness, therefore is he called [Jesus the Nazarene, king of the
Jews]. [285] Jesus is to mean "savior" or "salvation," on whom men shall hope to have forgiveness
of sins, which is properly salvation of sins. And therefore said the angel to Joseph, "Thou shalt call
his name Jesus, that shall save his people of their sins." And hereof says Saint Peter: "There is no
other name under heaven that is given to any man, by which a man can be saved, but only Jesus."
Nazarenus is as much to say as "flourishing," in which a man shall hope that he that gives him
remission of sins shall give him also grace for to do well. For in the flower is hope of fruit in time
coming, and in forgiveness of sins hope of grace to do well. "I was at the door of thy heart," says
Jesus, "and called to enter. He that opens to me shall have forgiveness of sin. [290] I will enter into
him by my grace and sup with him," by the good works that he shall do, which works are the food
of God; "and he shall sup with me" by the great joy that I shall give him. Thus shall man hope, for
his works of penance that God shall give him his reign, as he promises him in the gospel.

Now shall a man understand in which manner shall be his contrition. I say that it shall be universal
and total. This is to say, a man shall be truly repentant for all his sins that he has done in delight of
his thought, for delight is very perilous. For there are two manner of consenting: that one of them
is called consenting of affection, when a man is moved to do sin, and delights him long for to think
on that sin; and his reason perceives it well that it is sin against the law of God, and yet his reason
restrains not his foul delight or desire, though he see well clearly that it is against the reverence of
God. Although his reason consent not to do that sin in deed, [295] yet say some theologians that
such delight that dwells long, it is very perilous, although it be never so little. And also a man
should sorrow especially for all that ever he has desired against the law of God with perfect
consenting of his reason, for thereof is no doubt, that it is deadly sin in consenting. For certainly,
there is no deadly sin that it was not first in man's thought and after that in his delight, and so
forth into consenting and into deed. Wherefore I say that many men repent them never of such
thoughts and delights, nor never confess themselves of it, but only of the deed of great sins
outward. Wherefore I say that such wicked delights and wicked thoughts are subtle deceivers of
them that shall be damned. [300] Moreover, man ought to sorrow for his wicked words as well as
for his wicked deeds. For certainly, the repentance of a singular sin, and not to repent of all his
other sins, or else to repent him of all his other sins and not of a singular sin, can not avail. For
certainly, God almighty is all good, and therefore he forgives all or else nothing at all. And hereof
says Saint Augustine, "I know certainly that God is enemy to every sinner." And how then? He that
observes one sin, shall he have forgiveness of the remnant of his other sins? Nay. And
furthermore, contrition should be wonderfully sorrowful and anxious; and therefore God gives
him fully his mercy; and therefore, when my soul was anxious within me, I had remembrance of
God that my prayer might come to him. [305] Furthermore, contrition must be continual, and that
man have steadfast purpose to confess himself, and to amend himself of his life. For truly, while
contrition lasts, man can ever have hope of forgiveness; and of this comes hate of sin, which
destroys sin, both in himself and also in other folk in his power. For which says David: "You who
love God, hate wickedness." For trust well, to love God is to love what he loves, and hate what he
hates.

The last thing that men should understand in contrition is this: by what means contrition avails. I
say that sometimes contrition delivers a man from sin; of which David says, "I say," said David
(that is to say, I purposed firmly) "to confess myself, and thou, Lord, set me free from my
sin." [310] And right so as contrition avails not without firm purpose of confession, if man have
opportunity, just so little worth is confession or satisfaction without contrition. And moreover
contrition destroys the prison of hell, and makes weak and feeble all the strengths of the devils,
and restores the gifts of the Holy Ghost and of all good virtues; and it cleanses the soul of sin, and
delivers the soul from the pain of hell, and from the company of the devil, and from the slavery of
sin, and restores it to all goods spirituals, and to the company and communion of holy church. And
furthermore, it makes him who whilom was son of ire to be son of grace; and all these things are
proved by holy writ. And therefore, he who would set his intent to these things, he would be very
wise; for truly he should not then in all his life have desire to sin, but give his body and all his heart
to the service of Jesus Christ, and thereof do him homage. [315] For truly our sweet Lord Jesus
Christ has spared us so graciously in our follies that if he had not had pity of man's soul, a sorry
song we might all sing.

Explicit prima pars Penitentie; Et sequitur secunda pars eiusdem.

[Here ends the first part of Penance; and its second part follows.]

The second part of Penitence is Confession, which is a sign of contrition. Now shall you understand
what is Confession, and whether it ought necessarily be done or not, and which things are
appropriate to true Confession.

First shalt thou understand that Confession is true showing of sins to the priest. This is to say
"true," for he must confess himself of all the conditions that belong to his sin, insofar as he
can. [320] All must be said, and no thing excused nor hid nor concealed, and do not boast thee of
thy good works. And furthermore, it is necessary to understand from whence that sins spring, and
how they increase, and what they are.

Of the springing of sins says Saint Paul in this manner: that "Just as by a man sin entered first into
this world, and through that sin death, just so this death entered into all men that sinned." And
this man was Adam, by whom sin entered into this world, when he broke the commandments of
God. And therefore, he who first was so mighty that he should not have died, became such one
that he must needs die, whether he would or not, and all his progeny in this world, that in this
man sinned. [325] Look that in the estate of innocence, when Adam and Eve naked were in
Paradise, and in no way had shame of their nakedness, how that the serpent, that was most wily
of all other beasts that God had made, said to the woman, Why commanded God to you you
should not eat of every tree in Paradise?" The woman answered: "Of the fruit," said she, "of the
trees in Paradise we feed us, but truly, of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of Paradise, God
forbad us to eat, and not touch it, lest by chance we should die." The serpent said to the woman,
"Nay, nay, you shall not die of death; truly, God knows that whatever day that you eat thereof,
your eyes shall open and you shall be as gods, knowing good and harm." The woman then saw
that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delectable to the sight. She took one of the
fruit of the tree, and ate it, and gave it to her husband, and he ate, and at once the eyes of them
both opened. [330] And when that they knew that they were naked, they sewed of fig leaves a
sort of breeches to hide their private parts. There can you seen that deadly sin has, first,
suggestion of the fiend, as shows here by the adder; and afterward, the delight of the flesh, as
shows here by Eve; and after that, the consenting of reason, as shows here by Adam. For trust
well, though it were so that the fiend tempted Eve -- that is to say, the flesh -- and the flesh had
delight in the beauty of the forbidden fruit, yet certainly, until reason -- that is to say, Adam --
consented to the eating of the fruit, yet stood he in the state of innocence. Of this Adam we took
this sin original, for of him fleshly descended are we all, and engendered of vile and corrupt
matter. And when the soul is put in our body, right away is contracted original sin; and what was
at first but only pain of concupiscence is afterward both pain and sin. [335]And therefore are we
all born sons of anger and of eternal damnation, if it were not that we receive baptism, which
takes away from us the guilt. But truly, the pain dwells with us, as a temptation, which pain is
called concupiscence. And this concupiscence, when it is wrongfully disposed or arranged in man,
it makes him covet, by covetousness of flesh, fleshly sin, by sight of his eyen as to earthly things,
and also covetousness of high rank by pride of heart.

Now, as for to speak of the first covetousness, that is concupiscence, according to the law of our
members that were lawfully made and by righteous judgment of God, I say, forasmuch as man is
not obedient to God, who is his lord, therefore is the flesh to him disobedient through
concupiscence, which yet is called nourishing of sin and occasion of sin. Therefore, all the while
that a man has in him the pain of concupiscence, it is impossible but that he be tempted sometime
and moved in his flesh to sin. [340] And this thing can not fail as long as he lives. it may well wax
feeble and fail by the power of baptism and by the grace of God through penitence, but fully shall
it never quench, that he shall not some time be moved in himself, unless he were all cooled by
sickness, or by evildoing of sorcery, or cold drinks. For lo, what says Saint Paul: "The flesh covets
against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; they are so contrary and so quarrel that a man
may not always do as he would." The same Saint Paul, after his great penance in water and in land
-- in water by night and by day in great peril and in great pain; in land, in famine and thirst, in cold
and without clothing, and once stoned almost to the death -- yet said he, "Alas, I wretched man!
Who shall deliver me from the prison of my wretched body?" [345] And Saint Jerome, when he
long time had dwelt in desert, where he had no company but of wild beasts, where he neither had
no food but herbs, and water to his drink, nor no bed but the naked earth, for which his flesh was
black as an Ethiopian because of heat, and nigh destroyed because of cold, yet said he that "the
burning of lechery boiled in all his body." Wherefore I know well truly that they are deceived that
say that they are not tempted in their body. Witness on Saint James the Apostle, who says that
"every creature is tempted in his own concupiscence"; that is to say, that every of us has matter
and occasion to be tempted by the nourishing of sin that is in his body. And therefore says Saint
John the Evangelist, "If we say that we are without sin, we deceive ourselves, and truth is not in
us."

[350] Now shall you understand in what manner that sin waxes or increases in man. The first thing
is this nourishing of sin of which I spoke before, this fleshly concupiscence. And after that comes
the subjection of the devil -- this is to say, the devils bellows, with which he blows in man the fire
of fleshly concupiscence. And after that, a man considers whether he will do or not this thing to
which he is tempted. And then, if a man withstands and resists the first enticing of his flesh and of
the fiend, then is it no sin; and if it so be that he do not so, then feels he at once a flame of delight.
And then is it good to beware and guard himself well, or else he will fall at once into consenting of
sin; and then will he do it, if he may have time and place. [355] And of this matter says Moses
concernming the devil in this manner: "The fiend says, `I will chase and pursue the man by wicked
suggestion, and I will seize him by moving or stirring of sin. And I will take away my capture or my
prey by careful consideration, and my lust shall be accomplished in delight. I will draw my sword
in consenting.' -- for certainly, just as a sword parts a thing in two pieces, right so consenting parts
God from man -- "`and then will I slay him with my hand in death of sin'; thus says the fiend." For
certainly, then is a man all dead in soul. And thus is sin accomplished by temptation, by delight,
and by consenting; and then is the sin called actual.

In truth, sin is in two manners; it is either venial or deadly sin. Truly, when man loves any creature
more than Jesus Christ our Creator, then is it deadly sin. And venial sin is it, if man love Jesus
Christ less than he ought. Truly, the death of this venial sin is very perilous, for it diminishes the
love that men should have to God more and more. [360] And therefore, if a man charge himself
with many such venial sins, certainly, unless it so be that he sometimes discharge himself of them
by confession, they can very easily diminish in him all the love that he has to Jesus Christ; and in
this manner skips venial into deadly sin. For certainly, the more that a man burdens his soul with
venial sins, the more is he inclined to fall into deadly sin. And therefore let us not be negligent to
disburden us of venial sins. For the proverb says that "Many small make a great." And hearken this
example. A great wave of the sea comes some time with so great a violence that it sinks the ship.
And the same harm do some time the small drops of water, that enter through a little crevice into
the bilge, and in the bottom of the ship, if men be so negligent that they do not empty them in
time. And therefore, although there is a difference betwixt these two causes of sinking, in either
case the ship is sunk. [365] Right so fares it sometimes of deadly sin, and of harmful venial sins,
when they multiply in a man so greatly that [the love of] these worldly things that he loves,
through which he sins venially, is as great in his heart as the love of God, or more. And therefore,
the love of every thing that is not set in God, nor done principally for God's sake, although a man
love it less than God, yet is it venial sin; and deadly sin when the love of any thing weighs in the
heart of man as much as the love of God, or more. "Deadly sin," as says Saint Augustine, "is when
a man turns his heart from God, which is true perfect goodness, that can not change, and gives his
heart to thing that can change and pass away." And certainly, that is every thing save God of
heaven. For it is true that if a man gives his love, the which he owes all to God with all his heart,
unto a creature, certainly, as much of his love as he gives to this creature, so much he takes away
from God; [370] and therefore does he sin. For he that is debtor to God yields not to God all his
debt; that is to say, all the love of his heart.

Now since man understands generally what is venial sin, then is it appropriate to tell specially of
sins which many a man by chance deems them not sins, and shrives him not of the same things,
and yet nonetheless they are sins truly, as these clerks write; this is to say, that at every time that
a man eats or drinks more than suffices to the sustenance of his body, in certain he does sin. And
also when he speaks more than it needs, it is sin. Also when he hearkens not graciously the
complaint of the poor; also when he is in health of body and will not fast when other folk fast,
without cause reasonable; also when he sleeps more than he needs, nor when he comes for this
cause too late to church, or to other works of charity; [375] also when he uses his wife without
controlling desire of procreation to the honor of God or for the intent to yield to his wife the debt
of his body; also when he will not visit the sick and the prisoner, if he can; also if he love wife or
child, or other worldly thing, more than reason requires. also if he flatter or wheedle more than he
ought for any necessity; also if he diminish or withdraw the alms of the poor; also if he prepares
his food more deliciously than need is, or eats it too hastily because of greed; also if he talk
vanities at church or at God's service, or that he is a talker of idle words of folly or of villainy, for
he shall yield accounts of it at the day of doom; also when he promises or assures to do things that
he can not perform; also when that he by frivolity or folly slanders or scorns his
neighbor; [380] also when he has any wicked suspicion of thing where he knows of it no
truthfulness: these things, and more without number, are sins, as says Saint Augustine.

Now shall men understand that, although it be so that no earthly man can eschew all venial sins,
yet can he restrain himself by the burning love that he has to our Lord Jesus Christ, and by prayers
and confession and other good works, so that it shall but little grieve. For, as says Saint Augustine,
"If a man loves God in such manner that all that ever he does is in the love of God and for the love
of God truly, for he burns in the love of God, look how much that a drop of water that falls in a
furnace full of fire annoys or grieves, so much annoys a venial sin unto a man that is perfect in the
love of Jesus Christ." [385] Men can also restrain venial sin by receiving worthily of the precious
body of Jesus Christ; by receiving also of holy water, by alms, by general confession of Confiteor [I
confess] at mass and at evening prayers, and by blessing of bishops and of priests, and by other
good works.

Explicit secunda Pars Penitentie

[Here ends the second part on Penance]

Sequitur de septem peccatis mortalibus

et eorum dependenciis, circumstanciis, et speciebus.
[Now follows the section on the seven deadly sins
and their subdivisions, circumstances, and species.]

Now is it a suitable thing to tell what are the seven deadly sins, this is to say, chieftains of sins.
They all run on one leash, but in diverse manners. Now are they called chieftains, forasmuch as
they are chief and origin of all other sins. Of the root of these seven sins, then, is Pride the general
root of all harms. For of this root spring certain branches, as Anger, Envy, Accidia or Sloth, Avarice
or Covetousness (to common understanding), Gluttony, and Lechery. And every of these chief sins
has his branches and his twigs, as shall be declared in their chapters following.

De Superbie
[Concerning Pride]

[390] And though it be so that no man can completely tell the number of the twigs and of the
harms that come from Pride, yet will I show a part of them, as you shall understand. There is
disobedience, boasting, hypocrisy, scorn, arrogance, impudence, swelling of heart, insolence,
elation (see 400), impatience, contumaciousness (see 402), rebelliousness, presumption,
irreverence, pertinacity (see 404), vainglory, and many another twig that I can not declare.
Disobedient is he that disobeys for spite to the commandments of God, and to his superiors, and
to his spiritual father. Boaster is he that boasts of the harm or of the goodness that he has done.
Hypocrite is he who hides showing himself such as he is and shows himself such as he is
not. [395] Scornful is he that has disdain of his neighbor -- that is to say, of his fellow-Christian -- or
scorns to do what he ought to do. Arrogant is he that thinks that he has these good things in him
that he has not, or supposes that he should have them by his deserts, or else he supposes that he
is what he is not. Impudent is he that for his pride has no shame of his sins. Swelling of heart is
when a man rejoices him for harm that he has done. Insolent is he that despises in his judgment all
other folk, as compared to his value, and of his understanding, and of his speaking, and of his
bearing.[400] Elation is when he can tolerate having neither master nor fellow. Impatient is he
who will not be taught nor reproved for his vice, and by strife wages war on truth wittingly, and
defends his folly. Contumacious is he that through his indignation is against every authority or
power of them that are his superiors. Presumption is when a man undertakes an enterprise that
he ought not do, or else that he can not do; and this is called presumption. Irreverence is when
men do not honor where as they ought to do, and expect to be reverenced. Pertinacity is when
man defends his folly and trusts too much to his own wit. [405] Vainglory is to have pomp and
delight in his temporal high rank, and to exult in this worldly estate. Jangling is when a man speaks
too much before folk, and clatters like a mill, and takes no care what he says.

And yet is there a private species of Pride that waits first to be greeted ere he will greet, although
he is less worthy than that other is, indeed; and also he expects or desires to sit, or else to go
before him in the way, or kiss the pax, or be incensed, or go to the offering before his neighbor,
and such similar things, beyond what duty requires, indeed, but that he has his heart and his
intent in such a proud desire to be made much of and honored before the people.

Now are there two manners of Pride: one of them is within the heart of man, and the other is
without. [410] Of which, truly, these aforesaid things, and more than I have said, pertain to Pride
that is in the heart of man; and are without that other species of Pride. But nonetheless the one of
these species of Pride is sign of the other, just as the gay bush at the tavern is sign of the wine that
is in the storeroom. And this is in many things: as in speech and countenance, and in outrageous
display of clothing. For certainly, if there had been no sin in clothing, Christ would not so soon
have noted and spoken of the clothing of this rich man in the gospel. And, as says Saint Gregory,
that "precious clothing is sinful for the costliness of it, and for its softness, and for its exotic style
and elaborateness, and for the superfluity, or for the excessive scantiness of it." [415] Alas, can
man not see, in our days, the sinful excessively costly display of clothing, and namely in too much
superfluity, or else in too excessive scantiness?

As to the first sin, that is in superfluity of clothing, which makes it so dear, to the harm of the
people; not only the cost of embroidering, the ostentatious notching or ornamenting with bars,
undulating stripes, vertical stripes, folding or decorative borders, and similar waste of cloth in
vanity, but there is also costly fur trimming in their gowns, so much punching with chisels to make
holes, so much slitting with shears; immediately the superfluity in length of the aforesaid gowns,
trailing in the dung and in the mire, on horse and also on foot, as well of man as of woman, that all
this trailing cloth is truly in effect wasted, consumed, threadbare, and rotten with dung, rather
than it is given to the poor, to great damage of the aforesaid poor folk. [420] And that in various
ways; this is to say that the more that cloth is wasted, the more must it cost to the people for the
scarceness. And furthermore, if it so be that they would give such ornamentally punched and
artfully slitted clothing to the poor folk, it is not convenient to wear for their estate, nor sufficient
to allay their necessity, to keep them from the bad weather of the heavens. Upon that other side,
to speak of the horrible excessive scantiness of clothing, as are these coats cut short, or short
jackets, that through their shortness do not cover the shameful members of man, to wicked
intent. Alas, some of them show the bulge of their shape, and the horrible swollen members, that
it seems like the malady of hernia, in the wrapping of their leggings; and also the buttocks of them
fare as it were the back part of a she-ape in the full of the moon. And moreover, the wretched
swollen members that they show through their style of clothing, in parting of their hoses into
white and red, seems that half their shameful private members were flayed. [425] And if so be
that they divide their hoses in other colors, as is white and black, or white and blue, or black and
red, and so forth, then seems it, as by variance of color, that half the part of their private members
were corrupt by the fire of Saint Anthony (inflamation of the skin), or by cancer, or by other such
mischance. Of the back part of their buttocks, it is very horrible to see. For certainly, in that part of
their body where they purge their stinking excrement, that foul part show they to the people
proudly in scorn of decency, which decency that Jesus Christ and his friends observed to show in
their lives. [430] Now, as of the outrageous array of women, God knows that though the visages of
some of them seem very chaste and meek, yet they make known in their display of attire lechery
and pride. I say not that decency in clothing of man or woman is unseemly, but certainly the
superfluity or excessive scarcity of clothing is blameworthy. Also the sin of excessive adornment or
of apparel is in things that pertain to riding, as in too many delicate horses that are maintained for
delight, that are so faire, well-fed, and expensive; and also in many a vicious knave that is
sustained by cause of them; and in too elaborate harness, as in saddles, in cruppers, collars, and
bridles covered with precious clothing, and rich bar and plates of gold and of silver. For which God
says by Zechariah the prophet, "I will destroy the riders of such horses." These folk take little
regard of the riding of God's son of heaven, and of his harness when he rode upon the ass, and
had no other harness but the poor clothes of his disciples; and we do not read that ever he rode
on another beast. [435] I speak this for the sin of superfluity, and not for reasonable decent array,
when reason requires it. And furthermore, certainly, pride is greatly made known in holding of
great households, when they are of little profit or of no profit at all, and namely when that group
of retainers is felonious and injurious to the people by harshness of high lordship or by way of
assigned tasks. For certainly, such lords sell then their lordship to the devil of hell, when they
sustain the wickedness of their household. [440] Or else, when these folk of low degree, such as
these that hold inns, sustain the theft of their workers, and that is in many sorts of deceits. This
sort of folk are the flies that follow the honey, or else the hounds that follow the carrion. Such
aforesaid folk strangle spiritually their lordships; for which thus says David the prophet: "Wicked
death must come upon these lordships, and God grant that they must descend into hell all down,
for in their houses are iniquities and wicked deeds and not God of heaven." And certainly, unless
they do amendment, just as God gave his blessing to Laban] by the service of Jacob, and to
[Pharaoh] by the service of Joseph, just so God will give his curse to such lords as sustain the
wickedness of their servants, unless they come to amendment. Pride of the table appears also
very often; for certainly, rich men are invited to feasts, and poor folk are put away and
rebuked. [445] Also in excess of diverse foods and drinks, and namely such manner of meat pies
and stews, burning with wild fir and painted and adorned with paper towers, and similar waste, so
that it is absurdity to think of. And also in too great preciousness of vessels and intricate
performances of music, by which a man is stirred the more to pleasures of lechery, if it so be that
he set his heart the less upon our Lord Jesus Christ, certainly it is a sin; and certainly the pleasures
might be so great in this case that man might easily fall by them into deadly sin. The species that
arise of Pride, truly when they arise from of malice plotted, considered, and premeditated, or else
by custom, are deadly sins, it is no doubt. And when they arise from frailty unpremeditated, and
suddenly withdrawn again, although they are grievous sins, I guess that they are not deadly.

[450] Now might men ask whereof Pride arises and springs, and I say, sometimes it springs of the
goods of nature, and sometimes of the goods of fortune, and sometimes of the goods of grace.
Certainly, the goods of nature stand either in goods of body or in goods of soul. Certainly, goods of
body are health of body, strength, agility, beauty, gentle birth, freedom. Goods of nature of the
soul are good wit, sharp understanding, subtle ingenuity, power over the senses, good memory.
Goods of fortune are riches, high degrees of lordships, praise of the people. [455] Goods of grace
are knowledge, power to suffer spiritual travail, benignity, virtuous contemplation, withstanding
of temptation, and similar things. Of which aforesaid goods, certainly it is a very great folly a man
to pride him in any of them all. Now to speak of goods of nature, God knows that sometimes we
have them in nature as much to our damage as to our profit. As for to speak of health of body,
certainly it passes very lightly, and also it is very often the cause of the sickness of our soul. For,
God knows, the flesh is a very great enemy to the soul, and therefore, the more that the body is
whole, the more are we in peril to fall. Also to pride oneself in his strength of body, it is an high
folly. For certainly, the flesh covets against the spirit, and ever the more strong that the flesh is,
the sorrier may the soul be. [460] And over all this, strength of body and worldly hardiness causes
very often many a man to be in peril and mischance. Also to pride oneself of his gentle birth is very
great folly; for oftentimes the gentility of the body takes away the gentility of the soul; and also
we are all of one father and of one mother; and we are all of one nature, rotten and corrupt, both
rich and poor. For truly, one sort of gentility is to be praised, that provides man's determination
with virtues and moralities, and makes himself Christ's child. For trust well that over whatever
man that sin has mastery, he is a true slave to sin.

Now are there general signs of gentility, as avoidance of vice and ribaldry and bondage to sin, in
word, in deed, and manner, [465] and using virtue, courtesy, and cleanness, and to be liberal --
that is to say, reasonably generous, for that which passes moderation is folly and sin. Another is to
remind himself of good things that he of other folk has received. Another is to be gracious to one's
good subjects; wherefore says Seneca, "There is no thing more suitable to a man of high estate
than graciousness and pity. And therefore these flies that men call bees, when they make their
king, they choose one that has no stinger with which he can sting." Another is, a man to have a
noble heart and a diligent to attain to high virtuous things.[470] Now certainly, for a man to pride
himself in the goods of grace is also an outrageous folly, for this gift of grace that should have
turned him to goodness and to medicine, turns him to venom and to ruin, as says Saint Gregory.
Certainly also, whosoever prides himself in the goods of fortune, he is a very great fool; for
sometimes is a man a great lord by the morrow, that is a captive and a wretched one ere it be
night; and sometimes the riches of a man is cause of his death; sometimes the pleasures of a man
are cause of the grievous malady through which he dies. Certainly, the commendation of the
people is sometimes very false and very brittle to trust; this day they praise, tomorrow they
blame. God knows, desire to have commendation also of the people has caused death to many a
busy man.

Remedium contra peccatum Superbia

[The remedy against the sin of Pride]
[475] Now since it is so that you have understood what is Pride, and what are the species of it, and
whence Pride arises and springs, now shall you understand what is the remedy against the sin of
Pride; and that is humility, or meekness. That is a virtue through which a man has true knowledge
of himself, and considers himself worthy of no esteem nor dignity, as in regard to his deserts,
considering ever his frailty. Now are there three manners of humility: as humility in heart; another
humility is in his mouth; the third in his deeds. The humility in heart is in four manners. That one is
when a man considers himself worth nothing before God of heaven. Another is when he despises
no other man. [480] The third is when he cares not, though men consider him worth nothing. The
fourth is when he is not sorry for his humiliation. Also the humility of mouth is in four things: in
temperate speech, and in humbleness of speech, and when he acknowledges with his own mouth
that he is such as it seems to him what he is in his heart. Another is when he praises the goodness
of another man, and nothing thereof diminishes. Humility also in deeds is in four manners. The
first is when he puts other men before him. The second is to choose the lowest place of all. The
third is gladly to assent to good counsel. The fourth is to stand gladly to the decisions of his
superiors, or of him that is in higher degree. Certainly, this is a great work of humility.

Sequitur de Invidia
[The (section on) Envy follows]

After Pride will I speak of the foul sin of Envy, which is, as by the word of the Philosopher
(Aristotle), "sorrow of another man's prosperity"; and according to the word of Saint Augustine, it
is "Sorrow of other men's well-being, and joy of other men's harm." [485] This foul sin is flatly
against the Holy Ghost. Although it is so that every sin is against the Holy Ghost, yet nonetheless,
forasmuch as goodness pertains particularly to the Holy Ghost, and Envy comes particularly of
malice, therefore it is particularly against the goodness of the Holy Ghost. Now malice has two
species; that is to say, hardness of heart in wickedness, or else the flesh of man is so blind that he
considers not that he is in sin or cares not that he is in sin, which is the hardness of the devil. That
other specie of malice is when a man wages war on truth, when he know that it is truth; and also
when he wages war on the grace that God has given to his neighbor; and all this is by Envy.
Certainly, then is Envy the worst sin that is. For truly, all other sins are sometimes only against one
special virtue, but certainly Envy is against all virtues and against all goodness. For it is sorry of all
the goodness of his neighbor, and in this manner it is diverse from all other sins. [490] For well
hardly is there any sin that has not some delight in itself save only Envy, that ever has in itself
anguish and sorrow. The species of Envy are these. There is first, sorrow of other man's goodness
and of his prosperity; and prosperity is natural cause of joy; then is Envy a sin against nature. The
second species of Envy is joy of other man's harm, and that is particularly similar to the devil, who
always rejoices for man's harm. Of these two species comes backbiting; and this sin of backbiting
or detraction has certain species, as thus: A certain man praises his neighbor with a wicked intent,
for he makes always a wicked knot at the last end. Always he makes a "but" at the last end, that is
worthy of more blame than is worth all the praising. [495] The second species is that if a man be
good and does or says a thing to good intent, the backbiter will turn all this goodness upside down
(opposite) to his wicked intent. The third is to detract the goodness of his neighbor. The fourth
species of backbiting is this: that if men speak goodness of a man, then will the backbiter say,
"Indeed, so and so is yet better than he," in dispraising of him that men praise. The fifth species is
this: to consent gladly and hearken gladly to the harm that men speak of other folk. This sin is very
great and ever increases according to the wicked intent of the backbiter. After backbiting comes
grouching or grumbling; and sometimes it springs of impatience against God, and sometimes
against man. [500] Against God it is when a man grouches against the pain of hell, or against
poverty, or loss of possessions, or against rain or tempest; or else grouches that scoundrels have
prosperity, or else because good men have adversity. And all these things should man suffer
patiently, for they come by the rightful judgment and decree of God. Sometimes grouching comes
from avarice; as Judas grouched against the Magdalene when she anointed the head of our Lord
Jesus Christ with her precious ointment. This sort of murmur is such as when man grouches of
goodness that himself does, or that other folk do of their own possessions. Sometimes comes
murmur of Pride, as when Simon the Pharisee grouched against the Magdalene when she
approached to Jesus Christ and wept at his feet for their sins. [505]And sometimes grouching
arises from Envy, when one discovers a man's harm that was private or deludes someone about a
thing that is false. Murmur also is often among servants that grouch when their superiors
command them to do lawful things; and forasmuch as they dare not openly deny the
commandments of their superiors, yet will they say harm, and grouch, and murmur privately for
true disobedience; which words men call the devil's Pater noster, though it is so that the devil
never had Pater noster, but that ignorant folk give it such a name. Sometimes it comes of Anger or
privy hate that nourishes rancor in heart, as afterward I shall declare. [510] Then comes also
bitterness of heart, through which bitterness every good deed of his neighbor seems to him bitter
and unsavory. Then comes discord that unbinds all sort of friendship. Then comes scorning of his
neighbor, although he does never so well. Then comes accusing, as when man seeks occasion to
annoy his neighbor, which is like the craft of the devil, that waits both night and day to accuse us
all. Then comes malignity, through which a man annoys his neighbor privately, if he can; and if he
can not do, surely his wicked will shall not be lacking, as to burn his house stealthily, or poison or
slay his beasts, and such things.

Remedium contra peccatum Invidie.

[The remedy against the sin of Envy.]

[515] Now will I speak of the remedy against this foul sin of Envy. First is the love of God principal
and loving of his neighbor as himself, for truly that one can not be without that other. And trust
well that in the name of thy neighbor thou shalt understand the name of thy brother; for certainly
we all have one fleshly father and one mother -- that is to say, Adam and Eve -- and also one
spiritual father, and that is God of heaven. Thy neighbor art thou commanded to love and desire
for him all goodness; and therefore says God, "Love thy neighbor as thyself" -- that is to say, to
salvation both of life and of soul. And moreover thou shalt love him in word, and in gracious
admonishing and chastising, and comforting him in his troubles, and pray for him with all thy
heart. And in deed thou shalt love him in such a manner that thou shalt do to him in charity as
thou wouldest that it were done to thy own person. [520] And therefore thou shalt do him no
damage in wicked word, nor harm in his body, neither in his possessions, nor in his soul, by
enticing of wicked example. Thou shalt not desire his wife nor any of his things. Understood also
that in the name of neighbor is comprehended one's enemy. Certainly, one must love his enemy,
by the commandment of God; and truly thy friend shalt thou love in God. I say, thy enemy shalt
thou love for God's sake, by his commandment. For if it were reasonable that a man should hate
his enemy, truly God would not receive us that are his enemies to his love. Against three manner
of wrongs that his enemy does to him, he shall do three things, as thus: [525] Against hate and
rancor of heart, he shall love him in heart. Against chiding and wicked words, he shall pray for his
enemy. Against the wicked deed of his enemy, he shall do him good. For Christ says, "Love your
enemies, and pray for them that speak you harm, and also for them that you chase and persecute,
and do good to them that you hate." Lo, thus commands us our Lord Jesus Christ to do to our
enemies. For truly, nature drives us to love our friends, and indeed, our enemies have more need
to be loved than our friends; and they that more need have, certainly to them shall men do
goodness; and certainly, in this deed have we remembrance of the love of Jesus Christ that died
for his enemies. And inasmuch as this love is the more grievous to perform, so much is the more
great the merit; and therefore the loving of our enemy has confounded the venom of the
devil. [530] For just as the devil is discomfited by humility, just so is he wounded to the death by
love of our enemy. Certainly, then is love the medicine that casts out the venom of Envy from
man's heart. The species of this process shall be more fully declared in the chapters following.

Sequitur de Ira
[The (section on) Anger follows.]

After Envy will I describe the sin of Anger. For truly, whoever has envy of his neighbor, anon he
will commonly find him a matter of anger, in word or in deed, against him to whom he has envy.
And as well comes Anger from Pride as from Envy, for truly he that is proud or envious is easily
angered.

[535] This sin of Anger, according to the description of Saint Augustine, is wicked desire to be
avenged by word or by deed. Anger, according to the Philosopher, is the hot blood of man
enlivened in his heart, through which he wants harm to him that he hates. For certainly, the heart
of man, by heating and moving of his blood, grows so troubled that he is out of all judgment of
reason. But you shall understand that Anger is in two manners; that one of them is good, and that
other is wicked. The good Anger is zeal for the good, through which a man is angry with
wickedness and against wickedness; and therefore says a wise man that Anger is better than
play. [540] This Anger is with graciousness, and it is angry without bitterness; not angry against the
man, but angry with the misdeed of the man, as says the prophet David, "Irascimini et nolite
peccare"
["Be angry and do not sin.]" Now understand that wicked Anger is in two manners; that is to say,
sudden Anger or hasty Anger, without aforethought and consenting of reason. The meaning and
the sense of this is that the reason of a man consents not to this sudden Anger, and then is it
venial. Another Anger is very wicked, that comes of felony of heart aforethought and planned
before, with wicked will to do vengeance, and thereto his reason consents. and truly this is deadly
sin. This Anger is so displeasing to God that it troubles his house and chases the Holy Ghost out of
man's soul, and wastes and destroys the likeness of God -- that is to say, the virtue that is in man's
soul -- [545] and put in him the likeness of the devil, and takes away the man from God, that is his
righteous lord.

This Anger is a very great pleasance to the devil, for it is the devils furnace, that is heated with the
fire of hell. For certainly, just as fire is more mighty to destroy earthly things than any other
element, just so Anger is mighty to destroy all spiritual things. Look how that fire of small coals
that are almost dead under ashes will kindle again when they are touched with brimstone; just so
Anger will evermore rekindle again when it is touched by the pride that is covered in man's heart.
For certainly, fire can not come out of nothing, except if it were first in the same thing naturally, as
fire is drawn out of flints with steel. [550] And just so as pride is oftentimes matter of Anger, just
so is rancor nurse and keeper of Anger. There is a sort of tree [juniper], as says Saint Isidore (of
Seville), that when men make fire of this tree and cover the coals of it with ashes, truly the fire of
it will last a full year or more. And just so fares it of rancor; when it is once conceived in the hearts
of some men, certainly, it will last perhaps from one Easter day unto another Easter day, and
more. But certainly, this man is very far from the mercy of God all this while.

In this aforesaid devil's furnace where forge three scoundrels: Pride, that ever blows and increases
the fire by chiding and wicked words; [555] then stands Envy and holds the hot iron upon the
heart of man with a pair of long tongs of long rancor; and then stands the sin of Contentiousness,
or strife and quarreling, and batters and forges by churlish reproving. Certainly, this cursed sin
annoys both the man himself and also his neighbor. For truly, almost all the harm that any man
does to his neighbor comes of anger. For certainly, outrageous anger does all that ever the devil
him commands, for he spares neither Christ nor his sweet Mother. And in his outrageous anger
and ire -- alas, alas! -- very many a one at that time feels in his heart very wickedly, both at Christ
and also at all his saints. [560] Is not this a cursed vice? Yes, certainly. Alas! It takes from man his
wit and his reason, and all his blessed life spiritual that should guard his soul. Certainly, it takes
away also God's due lordship, and that is man's soul and the love of his neighbors. It strives also
always against truth. It takes from him the quiet of his heart and overthrows his soul.

Of Anger come these stinking offspring: First, hate, that is old anger; discord, through which a man
forsakes his old friend that he has loved very long; and then comes war and every manner of
wrong that man does to his neighbor, in body or in possessions. Of this cursed sin of Anger comes
also manslaughter. And understand well that homicide, that is manslaughter, is in a variety of
ways. Some sort of homicide is spiritual, and some is bodily. [565] Spiritual manslaughter is in six
things. First by hate, as says Saint John: "He that hates his brother is an homicide." Homicide is
also by backbiting, of which backbiters says Solomon that "they have two swords with which they
slay their neighbors." For truly, it is as wicked to take away his good name as his life. Homicide is
also in giving of wicked counsel by fraud, as for to give counsel to impose wrongful rents and
taxes. Of which says Solomon, "Lion roaring and hungry bear are similar to the cruel lordships" in
reduction or abridging of the payment (or the hire), or of the wages of servants, or else in usury, or
in withdrawing of the alms of poor folk. For which the wise man says, "Feed him that almost dies
for hunger"; for truly, unless thou feed him, thou slayest him; and all these are deadly
sins. [570] Bodily manslaughter is, when thou slayest him with thy tongue in other manner, as
when thou commandest to slay a man or else givest him counsel to slay a man. Manslaughter in
deed is in four manners. That one is by law, just as a justice damns him that is culpable to the
death. But let the justice beware that he do it righteously, and that he do it not for delight to spill
blood but for keeping of righteousness. Another homicide is what is done for necessity, as when
one man slays another in self-defense and that he can not otherwise escape from his own death.
But certainly if he can escape without slaughter of his adversary, and slays him, he does sin and he
shall bear penance as for deadly sin. Also if a man, by accident or chance, shoot an arrow, or cast a
stone with which he slays a man, he is a homicide. [575] Also if a woman by negligence lies upon
her child in her sleeping, it is homicide and deadly sin. Also when man disturbs conception of a
child, and makes a woman either barren by drinking venomous herbs through which she can not
conceive, or slays a child by drinks willfully, or else puts certain material things in her secret places
to slay the child, or else does unnatural sin, by which man or woman sheds their nature (commits
sodomy) in manner or in place where a child can not be conceived, or else if a woman have
conceived, and hurts herself and slays the child, yet is it homicide. What say we also of women
that murder their children for dread of worldly shame? Certainly, an horrible homicide. Homicide
is also if a man approaches to a woman by desire of lechery, through which the child is killed, or
else smites a woman wittingly, through which she loses their child. All these are homicides and
horrible deadly sins. [580] Yet come there of Anger many more sins, as well in word as in thought
and in deed; as he that blames God, or blames God for a thing of which he is himself guilty, or
despises God and all his saints, as do these cursed gamblers in various countries. This cursed sin do
they, when they feel in their heart very wickedly about God and his saints. Also when they treat
irreverently the sacrament of the altar, this sin is so great that hardly may it be forgiven, but that
the mercy of God passes all his works; it is so great, and he so gracious. Then comes of Anger
poisonous anger. When a man is sharply admonished in his confession to abandon his sin, then
will he be angry, and answer disdainfully and angrily, and defend or excuse his sin by the
instability of his flesh; or else he did it in order to hold company with his fellows; or else, he says,
the fiend enticed him; [585] or else he did it because of his youth; or else his temperament is so
ardent that he can not abstain; or else it is his destiny, as he says, unto a certain age; or else, he
says, it comes to him of gentility of his ancestors; and similar things. All these sort of folk so wrap
them in their sins that they nor will not save themselves. For truly, no person who excuses him
obstinately of his sin can be saved from his sin until he meekly acknowledges his sin. After this,
then comes swearing, that is expressly against the commandment of God; and this happens often
of wrath and of Anger. God says, "Thou shalt not take the name of thy Lord God in vain or in
idleness." Also our Lord Jesus Christ says, by the word of Saint Matthew, "Nor will you not swear
in any manner; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by earth, for it is the bench of his
feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of a great king; nor by thy head, for thou canst not make a
hair white nor black. [590] But says by your word `yea, yea,' and `nay, nay'; and what is more, it is
of evil" -- thus says Christ. For Christ's sake, swear not so sinfully in dismembering of Christ by
soul, heart, bones, and body. For certainly, it seems that you think that the cursed Jews
dismembered not enough the precious person of Christ, but you dismember him more. And if it so
be that the law compels you to swear, then rule yourself according to the law of God in your
swearing, as says Jeremiah, quarto capitulo [in the fourth chapter]: Thou shalt keep three
conditions: thou shalt swear "in truth, in a case at law, and in righteousness." This is to say, thou
shalt swear truth, for every lie is against Christ; for Christ is true truth. And think well this: that
"every great swearer, not compelled lawfully to swear, the wound shall not depart from his
house" while he uses such unlawful swearing. Thou shalt swear also in case at law, when thou art
constrained by thy judge to witness the truth. [595] Also thou shalt not swear for envy, nor for
favor, nor for reward, but for righteousness, for declaration of it, to the worship of God and
helping of thy fellow Christian. And therefore every man that takes God's name in vain, or falsely
swears with his mouth, or else takes on him the name of Christ, to be called a Christian man and
lives against Christ's living and his teaching, all those take God's name in vain. Look also what Saint
Peter says, Actuum quarto, Non est aliud nomen sub celo, etc., [Acts, chapter four]: "There is no
other name" says Saint Peter, "under heaven given to men, in which they can be saved"]; that is to
say, but the name of Jesus Christ. Take note also how precious is the name of Christ, as says Saint
Paul, ad Philipenses secundo, In nomine Jhesu. etc. [Epistle to the Philippians, second chapter]: "That
in the name of Jesus every knee of heavenly creatures, or earthly, or of hell should bow," for it is
so high and so worshipful that the cursed fiend in hell should tremble to hear it named. Then
seems it that men that swear so horribly by his blessed name, that they despise it more boldly
than did the cursed Jews or else the devil, that trembles when he hears his name.

[600] Now certainly, since swearing, unless it be lawfully done, is so highly forbidden, much worse
is forswearing falsely, and yet needless.

What say we also of them that delight themselves in swearing, and hold it a gentle or a manly
deed to swear great oaths? And what of them that of true habit cease not to swear great oaths,
even though the cause is not worth a straw? Certainly, this is horrible sin. Swearing suddenly
without aforethought is also a sin. But let us go now to this horrible swearing of exorcism and
conjuring spirits, as do these false enchanters or necromancers in basins full of water, or in a
bright sword, in a circle, or in a fire, or in a shoulder-bone of a sheep. I can not say anything but
that they do cursedly and damnably against Christ and all the faith of holy church.

[605] What say we of them that believe in divinations, as by flight or by noise of birds, or of
beasts, or by drawing lots, by necromancy, by dreams, by squeaking of doors or creaking of
houses, by gnawing of rats, and such sort of wretchedness? Certainly, all this thing is forbidden by
God and by holy church. For which they are accursed, until they come to amendment, that on such
filth set their belief. Charms for wounds or malady of men or of beasts, if they take any effect, it
may be perhaps that God allows it, so that folk should give the more faith and reverence to his
name.

Now will I speak of lies, which generally is false significance of a word, in intent to deceive one's
fellow-Christian. One sort of lie is one of which there comes no advantage to any person; and
some lie turns to the ease and profit of one man, and to disease and damage of another
man. [610] Another lie is in order to save one's life or his possession. Another lie comes of delight
in lying, in which delight they will falsify a long tale and adorn it with full details, where all the
substance of the tale is false. Some lie comes for he will sustain his word; and some lie comes of
recklessness without forethought; and similar things.

Let us now touch on the vice of flattering, which comes not customarily but for dread or for
covetousness. Flattery is generally wrongful praising. Flatterers are the devils nurses, that nourish
his children with milk of deceit. For truly, Solomon says that "Flattery is worse than detraction."
For sometimes detraction makes a haughty man be the more humble, for he dreads detraction;
but certainly flattery, that makes a man to make his heart and his behavior grow
proud. [615] Flatterers are the devils enchanters; for they make a man to suppose himself to be
like what he is not like. They are like to Judas that betray a man to sell him to his enemy; that is to
the devil. Flatterers are the devils chaplains, that sing ever "Placebo [I shall please]." I reckon
flattery in the vices of Anger, for oftentimes if one man is angry with another, then will he flatter
some person to sustain him in his dispute.

Speak we now of such cursing as comes of irate heart. Cursing generally may be said to be every
sort of power of harm. Such cursing bereaves man from the reign of God, as says Saint
Paul. [620] And oftentimes such cursing wrongfully returns again to him that curses, as a bird that
returns again to his own nest. And over all thing men ought to eschew cursing their children, and
giving to the devil their offspring, insofar as they can. Certainly, it is great peril and great sin.
Let us then speak of chiding and reproach, which are very great wounds in man's heart, for they
unravel the seams of friendship in man's heart. For certainly, hardly may a man fully be reconciled
with him that has him openly reviled and reproved and slandered. This is a very grisly sin, as Christ
says in the gospel. And take note now, that he who reproves his neighbor, or he reproves him for
some harm of pain that he has on his body, as "leper," "crippled rascal," or by some sin that he
does. [625] Now if he reprove him for harm of pain, then the reproof turns to Jesus Christ, for pain
is sent by the righteous dispensation of God, and by his permission, be it leprosy, or bodily injury,
or illness. And if he reprove him uncharitably of sin, as "thou lecher," "thou drunken rascal," and
so forth, then appertains that to the rejoicing of the devil, who ever has joy that men do sin. And
certainly, chiding can not come but out of a churl's heart. For in proportion to the abundance of
the heart speaks the mouth very often. And you shall understand you who look, by any way, when
any man shall chastise another, that he be warned by chiding or reproving. For truly, unless he be
warned, he may very easily kindle the fire of anger and of wrath, which he should quench, and
perhaps slays him whom he might chastise with graciousness. For as says Solomon, "The amiable
tongue is the tree of life" -- that is to say, of life spiritual -- and truly, an unbridled tongue slays the
spirits of him that reproves and also of him that is reproved. [630] Lo, what says Saint Augustine:
"There is nothing so like the devil's child as he that often chides." Saint Paul says also, "The
servant of God it behooves not to chide." And how that chiding is a churlish thing betwixt all sort
of folk, yet is it certainly most unsuitable betwixt a man and his wife, for there is never rest. And
therefore says Solomon, "A house that is without a roof and leaking and a chiding wife are alike."
A man that is in a house leaking in many places, though he avoid the dripping in one place, it drips
on him in another place. So fares it by a chiding wife; unless she chide him in one place, she will
chide him in another. And therefore, "Better is a morsel of bread with joy than a house full of
delicacies with chiding," says Solomon. Saint Paul says, "O you women, be you subject to your
husbands as behooves in God, and you men love your wives." Ad Colossenses tertia[(Epistle to the)
Colossians, chapter three].

[635] Afterward let us speak of scorning, which is a wicked sin, and namely when one scorns a man
for his good works. For certainly, such scorners fare like the foul toad, that can not endure to smell
the sweet-smelling savor of the vine when it flourishes. These scorners be equal partners with the
devil; for they have joy when the devil wins and sorrow when he loses. They be adversaries of
Jesus Christ, for they hate that he loves -- that is to say, salvation of soul.

Let us speak now of wicked counsel, for he that gives wicked counsel is a traitor. For he deceives
himself who trusts in him, ut Achitofel ad Absolonem[as Achitofel (did) to Absolon]. But
nonetheless, yet is his wicked counsel first against himself. [640] For, as says the wise man, "Every
false person living has this property in himself, that he that will annoy another man, he annoys
first himself." And men shall understand that man shall not take his counsel of false folk, nor of
angry folk, nor hostile folk, nor of folk that love specially too much their own profit, nor too much
worldly folk, namely in counseling of souls.

Now comes the sin of those who sow and make discord amongst folk, which is a sin that Christ
hates utterly. And no wonder is, for he died for to make concord. And more shame do they to
Christ than did they that him crucified, for God loves better that friendship be amongst folk, than
he did his own body, the which that he gave for unity. Therefore are they likened to the devil, who
ever is diligent to make discord.
Now comes the sin of double tongue, such as to speak fair before folk and wickedly behind, or else
they make pretense as though they speak of good intention, or else in game and play, and yet they
speak of wicked intent.

[645] Now comes betraying of counsel, through which a man is defamed; certainly, hardly can he
restore the damage.

Now comes menace, that is an open folly, for he that often menaces, he threatens more than he
can perform oftentimes.

Now come idle words, that is without profit of him who speaks those words, and also of him who
hearkens those words. Or else idle words are those that are needless or without intent of ordinary
use. And although it may be that idle words are sometimes venial sin, yet should men fear them,
for we must give reckoning of them before God.

Now comes idle chattering, which may not be without sin. And, as says Solomon, "It is a sign of
clear folly." [650] And therefore a philosopher said, when men asked him how men should please
the people, and he answered, "Do many good works, and speak few idle words."

After this comes the sin of mockers, that are the devil's apes, for they make folk to laugh at their
mockery as folk do at the tricks of an ape. Such mockers Saint Paul forbids. Look how virtuous and
words holy comfort them that travail in the service of Christ, just so the churlish words and tricks
of mockers comfort those that travail in the service of the devil. These are the sins that come of
the tongue, that come of Anger and of other sins more.

Sequitur remedium contra peccatum Ire.

[The remedy against the sin of Anger follows].

The remedy against Anger is a virtue that men call humility, that is meekness; and also another
virtue, that men call patience or sufferance.

[655] Meekness withdraws and restrains the stirrings and the moving of manÂ’s mood in his heart,
in such manner that they skip not out by anger nor by ire. Patient endurance suffers sweetly all
the annoyances and the wrongs that men do to man outward. Saint Jerome says thus of
meekness, that "it does nor says no harm to any person. nor for any harm that men do or say, he
not become inflamed against his reason." This virtue sometimes comes of nature, for, as says the
Philosopher (Aristotle), "A man is a living thing, by nature meek and tractable to goodness; but
when meekness is informed by grace, then is it the more worthy."

Patience, that is another remedy against Anger, is a virtue that suffers sweetly every man's
goodness, and is not angry for any harm that is done to him. [660] The Philosopher says that
patience is that virtue that suffers meekly all the outrages of adversity and every wicked word.
This virtue makes a man like to God, and makes him GodÂ’s own dear child, as says Christ. This
virtue discomfits thy enemy. And therefore says the wise man, "If thou wilt vanquish thy enemy,
learn to suffer." And thou shalt understand that man suffers four sorts of grievances in outward
things, against the which four he must have four sorts of patience.
The first grievance is of wicked words. This suffered Jesus Christ without grouching, very patiently,
when the Jews despised and reproved him very often. Suffer thou therefore patiently; for the wise
man says, "If thou strive with a fool, though the fool be angry or though he laugh, nevertheless
thou shalt have no rest." [665] That other grievance outward is to have damage of thy
possessions. Against this Christ suffered very patiently, when he was despoiled of all that he had
in this life, and that was nothing but his clothes. The third grievance is a man to have harm in his
body. That suffered Christ very patiently in all his passion. The fourth grievance is in outrageous
forced labor in works. Wherefore I say that folk who make their serfs to travail too grievously or
out of time, as on holy days, truly they do great sin. Against this suffered Christ very patiently and
taught us patience, when he bore upon his blessed shoulder the cross upon which he should suffer
cruel death. Here can men learn to be patient, for certainly not only Christian men are patient for
love of Jesus Christ and for the reward of the blissful life that is eternal, but certainly, the old
pagans that never were Christian commended and used the virtue of patience.

[670] A philosopher upon a time, that would have beaten his disciple for his great trespass, for
which he was greatly moved, and brought a stick with which to scourge the child; and when this
child saw the stick, he said to his master, "What think you to do?" "I will beat thee," said the
master, "for thy correction." "Truly," said the child, "you ought first to correct yourself, that have
lost all your patience for the guilt of a child." "Truly," said the master all weeping, "thou sayest
truth. Have thou the stick, my dear son, and correct me for my impatience." Of patience comes
obedience, through which a man is obedient to Christ and to all them to which he ought to be
obedient in Christ. [675] And understand well that obedience is perfect when a man does gladly
and hastily, with good heart entirely, all that he should do. Obedience generally is to perform the
doctrine of God and of his superiors, to which him ought to be obedient in all righteousness.

Sequitur de Accidia
[The (section on) Sloth follows].

After the sin of Envy and of Anger, now will I speak of the sin of Sloth. For Envy blinds the heart of
a man, and Anger troubles a man, and Sloth makes him heavy, thoughtful, and fretful. Envy and
Anger make bitterness in heart, which bitterness is mother of Sloth, and deprives him of the love
of all goodness. Then is Sloth the anguish of troubled heart; and Saint Augustine says, "It is
vexation of goodness and joy of harm." Certainly, this is a damnable sin, for it does wrong to Jesus
Christ, inasmuch as it takes away the service that men ought do to Christ with all diligence, as says
Solomon. [680] But Sloth does no such diligence. He does all thing with vexation, and with
fretfulness, slowness, and making excuses, and with idleness, and disinclination; for which the
book says, "Cursed be he that does the service of God negligently." Then is Sloth enemy to every
estate of man, for certainly the estate of man is in three manners. Or it is the state of innocence,
as was the state of Adam before that he fell into sin, in which estate he was obliged to work as in
praising and adoring of God. Another state is the state of sinful men, in which state men are
obliged to labor in praying to God for amendment of their sins, and that he will grant them to
arisen out of their sins. Another state is the state of grace, in which state he is obliged to works of
penitence. And certainly, to all these things is Sloth enemy and antithesis, for he loves no business
at al. [685] Now certainly this foul sin Sloth is also a very great enemy to the sustenance of the
body, for it has no preparation against temporal necessity, for it loses by delaying and spoils
through sluggishness and destroys all temporal goods by carelessness.
The fourth thing is that Sloth is like those that are in the pain of hell, by cause of their sloth and of
their heaviness, for they that are damned are so bound that they can neither do well nor think
well. Of Sloth comes first that a man is annoyed and encumbered to do any goodness, and makes
that God has abomination of such Sloth, as says Saint John.

Now comes Sloth, that will not suffer any hardness nor any penance. For truly, Sloth is so tender
and so delicate, as says Solomon, that he will not suffer any hardness nor penance, and therefore
he ruins all that he does. Against this rotten-hearted sin of Sloth and Sloth should men exercise
themselves to do good works, and manly and virtuously take determination to do well, thinking
that our Lord Jesus Christ rewards every good deed, be it never so little. [690] Exercise of labor is a
great thing, for it makes, as says Saint Bernard, the laborer to have strong arms and hard sinews;
and sloth makes them feeble and tender. Then comes dread to begin to do any good works. For
certainly, he that is inclined to sin, he thinks it is so great an enterprise to undertake to do works
of goodness, and thinks in his heart that the circumstances of goodness are so grievous and so
burdensome to suffer, that he dare not undertake to do works of goodness, as says Saint Gregory.

Now comes wanhope, that is despair of the mercy of God, that comes sometimes of too much
outrageous sorrow, and sometimes of too much dread, imagining that he has done so much sin
that it will not avail him, though he would repent himself and abandon, through which despair or
dread he abandons all his heart to every sort of sin, as says Saint Augustine. [695] Which
damnable sin, if it continue unto its end, it is called sinning against the Holy Ghost. This horrible
sin is so perilous that he that is in despair, there is no felony nor no sin that he fears to do, as
showed well by Judas. Certainly, above all sins then is this sin most displeasing to Christ, and most
adverse. Truly, he that despairs himself is like the cowardly defeated champion, who says "I
surrender" without need. Alas, alas, needless is he defeated and needless in despair. Certainly, the
mercy of God is ever ready to the penitent, and is above all his works. [700] Alas, can a man not
remember the gospel of Saint Luke, 15, where Christ says that "as well shall there be joy in heaven
upon one sinful man that does penitence, as upon ninety and nine righteous men that need no
penitence." Look further, in the same gospel, the joy and the feast of the good man that had lost
his son, when his son with repentance was returned to his father. Can they not remember also
that, as says Saint Luke, 23, how the thief that was hanged beside Jesus Christ said, "Lord,
remember me, when thou comest into thy reign."? "Truly," said Christ, "I say to thee, to-day shalt
thou be with me in paradise." Certainly, there is none so horrible sin of man that it may not in his
life be destroyed by penitence, through virtue of the passion and of the death of Christ. [705] Alas,
what needs man then to be in despair, since his mercy so ready is and generous? Ask and have.
Then cometh somnolence, that is sluggish slumbering, which makes a man be heavy and dull in
body and in soul, and this sin comes of Sloth. And certainly, the time that, by way of reason, men
should not sleep, that is in the morning, unless there were a reasonable cause. For truly, the
morning time is most suitable for a man to say his prayers, and to think on God, and to honor God,
and to give alms to the poor that first comes in the name of Christ. Lo, what says Solomon:
"Whoever would in the morning awaken and seek me, he shall find." [710] Then comes
negligence, or carelessness, that takes account of nothing. And how that ignorance is mother of all
harm, certainly, negligence is the nurse. Negligence cares nothing, when he shall do a thing,
whether he do it well or badly.
Of the remedy of these two sins, as says the wise man, that "He that dreads God, he does not
neglect to do what he ought to do." And he that loves God, he will do diligence to please God by
his works and devote himself, with all his might, to do well. Then comes idleness, that is the gate
of all harms. An idle man is like to a place that has no walls; the devils may enter on every side, or
shoot at him in an exposed position, by temptation on every side. [715] This idleness is the storage
place of all wicked and churlish thoughts, and of all gossip, trifles, and of all filth. Certainly, the
heaven is given to them that will labor, and not to idle folk. Also David says that "they are not in
the labor of men, and they shall not be whipped by men" -- that is to say, in purgatory. Certainly,
then seems it they shall be tormented by the devil in hell, unless they do penitence.

Then comes the sin that men call tarditas, as when a man is too tardy or tarrying ere he will turn to
God, and certainly that is a great folly. He is like to him that falls in the ditch and will not arise.
And this vice comes of a false hope, that he thinks that he shall live long; but that hope fails very
often.

[720] Then comes laziness; that is he that when he begins any good work quickly he shall abandon
it and stint, as do they that have any person to govern and not take of him no more care as soon
as they find any adversity or any annoyance. These are the new shepherds that knowingly let their
sheep go run to the wolf that is in the briers, or take no account of their own governance. Of this
comes poverty and destruction, both of spiritual and temporal things. Then comes a sort of
coldness, that freezes all the heart of a man. Then comes lack of devotion, through which a man is
so deceived, as says Saint Bernard, and has such suffering in soul that he can neither read nor sing
in holy church, nor hear nor think of any devotion, nor travail with his hands in any good work, but
that it is to him unsavory and all faded. Then he becomes slow and sleepy, and quickly will be
angry, and is quickly inclined to hate and to envy. [725] Then comes the sin of worldly sorrow,
such as is called tristicia, that slays man, as says Saint Paul. For certainly, such sorrow works to the
death of the soul and of the body also; for thereof it comes that a man is annoyed of his own life.
Wherefore such sorrow shortens very often the life of man, ere that his time be come by way of
nature.

Remedium contra peccatum Accidie.

[The remedy against the sin of Sloth.]

Against this horrible sin of Sloth, and the branches of the same, there is a virtue that is
called fortitudo or strength, that is an affection through which a man despises harmful things.

This virtue is so mighty and so vigorous that it dare withstand mightily and wisely keep himself
from perils that are wicked, and wrestle against the assaults of the devil. [730] For it enhances and
strengthens the soul, just as Sloth decreases it and makes it feeble. For this fortitudo can endure
by long forbearance the travails that are suitable. This virtue has many species; and the first is
called magnanimity, that is to say, great valor. For certainly, great valor is needed against Sloth,
lest that it swallow the soul by the sin of sorrow, or destroy it by despair. This virtue makes folk to
undertake hard things and grievous things, by their own will, wisely and reasonably. And
forasmuch as the devil fights against a man more by ingenuity and by trickery than by strength,
therefore men must withstand him by wit and by reason and by discretion. Then are there the
virtues of faith and hope in God and in his saints to achieve and accomplish the good works in the
which he plans firmly to continue. [735] Then comes security or self-confidence, and that is when a
man fears no suffering in time coming of the good works that a man has begun. Then comes
magnificence; that is to say, when a man does and performs great works of goodness; and that is
the reason why men should do good works, for in the accomplishing of great good works lies the
great reward. Then is there constancy, that is stableness of determination, and this should be in
heart by steadfast faith, and in mouth, and in bearing, and in appearance, and in deed. Also there
are mo special remedies against Sloth in diverse works, and in consideration of the pains of hell
and of the joys of heaven, and in the trust of the grace of the Holy Ghost, that will give him might
to perform his good intent.

Sequitur de Avaricia.
[The (section on) Avarice follows.]

After Sloth will I speak of Avarice and of Greed, of which sin Saint Paul says that "the root of all
harms is Greed." ad Thimotheum sexto
[(Epistle) to Timothy, chapter six]. For truly, when the heart of a man is confused in itself and
troubled, and when the soul has lost the comfort of God, then seeks he an idle solace of worldly
things. [740] Avarice, according to the description of Saint Augustine, is an inordinate desire in
heart to have earthly things. Some other folk say that Greed is to purchase many earthly things
and give nothing to them that have need. And understand that Greed consists not only of land and
possessions, but sometimes in knowledge and in glory, and in every manner of outrageous thing is
Avarice and Greed. And the difference betwixt Avarice and Greed is this: Greed is to covet such
things as thou hast not; and Avarice is for to and keep such things as thou hast, without just
need. [745] Truly, this Avarice is a sin that is very damnable, for all holy writ curses it and speaks
against that vice, for it does wrong to Jesus Christ. For it takes from him the love that men owe to
him, and turns it backward against all reason, and makes that the avaricious man have more hope
in his possessions than in Jesus Christ, and pays more attention to keeping of his treasure than he
does to the service of Jesus Christ. And therefore says Saint Paul (Ad Ephesios quinto [In (the
Epistle) to the Ephesians, chapter five]), that an avaricious man is in the bondage of idolatry.

What difference is betwixt an idolater and an avaricious man, but that an idolater, perhaps, has
only one idol or two, and the avaricious man has many? For certainly, every coin in his coffer is his
idol. [750] And certainly, the sin of idolatry is the first thing that God forbad in the ten
commandments, as bears witness in Exodi capitulo vicesimo [the twentieth chapter of
Exodus]: "Thou shalt have no false gods before me, and thou shalt make for thyself no graven
thing." Thus is an avaricious man, who loves his treasure before God, an idolater, through this
cursed sin of avarice. Of Greed come these hard lordships, through which men are oppressed by
taxes, rents, and payments, more than their feudal duty or reason is. And also they take of their
bond-men payments (in lieu of service), which might more reasonably be called extortions than
payments. Of which payments and forced payments of bond-men some lords' stewards say that it
is legal, forasmuch as a churl has no temporal thing but rather it is his lord's, as they say. But
certainly, these lord-ships do wrong that take from their bond-folk things that they never gave
them. Augustinus, De Civitate libro nono [St. Augustine City (of God) in the ninth book.] [755] "Sooth
is that the condition of bondage and the first cause of bondage is because of sin. Genesis
nono [Genesis, in the ninth chapter]. Thus may you seen that the guilt, but not nature, deserves
bondage." Therefore these lords should not much glorify themselves in their lordships, since by
natural condition they are not lords over bondsmen, but that bondage comes first by the just
deserts of sin. And furthermore, whereas the law says that temporal goods of bond-folk are the
goods of their lordships, yea, that is for to understand, the goods of the emperor, to defend them
in their right, but not for to rob them nor to take from them. And therefore says Seneca, "Thy
prudence should live benignly with thy bondsmen." [760] Those that thou callest thy bondsmen
are God's people, for humble folk are Christ's friends; they are on familiar terms with the Lord.

Think also that of such seed as churls spring, of such seed spring lords. As well may the churl be
saved as the lord. The same death that takes the churl, such death takes the lord. Therefore I
advise, do just so with thy churl, as thou wouldest that thy lord did with thee, if thou were in his
condition. Every sinful man is a churl to sin. I advise thee, certainly, that thou, lord, work in such a
way with thy churls that they rather love thee than dread. I know well there is degree above
degree, as is consonant with reason, and it is reasonable that men do their duty where it is due,
but certainly, extortions and scorn for your underlings is damnable.

[765] And furthermore, understand well that these conquerors or tyrants make very often
bondsmen of them that are born of as royal blood as are they that conquer them. This name of
bondage was never before known until Noah said that his son Ham should be in bondage to his
brethren for his sin. What say we then of them that rob and do extortions to holy church?
Certainly, the sword that men give first to a knight, when he is newly dubbed, signifies that he
should defend holy church, and not rob it nor pillage it; and whosoever does is traitor to Christ.
And, as says Saint Augustine, "They are the devil's wolves that destroy the sheep of Jesus Christ,"
and do worse than wolves. For truly, when the wolf has his belly full, he stops destroying sheep.
But truly, the robbers and destroyers of the goods of holy church do not so, for they stint never to
pillage.

[770] Now as I have said, since it is so that sin was the first cause of bondage, then is it thus: that
time that all this world was in sin, then was all this world in bondage and subjection. But certainly,
since the time of grace came, God ordained that some folk should be more high in state and in
degree, and some folk more low, and that every one should be treated in accorance with his state
and with his degree. And therefore in some countries, where they buy bondsmen, when they have
turned them to the faith, they make their bondsmen free out of bondage. And therefore, certainly,
the lord owes to his man what the man owes to his lord. The Pope calls himself servant of the
servants of God; but forasmuch as the estate of holy church might not have been, nor the common
profit might not have been kept, nor peace and rest in earth, unless God had ordained that some
men had higher degree and some men lower, Therefore was supreme power ordained, to keep
and maintain and defend their underlings or their subjects in accord with reason, insofar as it lies
in their power, and not to destroy nor confuse them. [775] Wherefore I say that these lords that
are like wolves, that devour the possessions or the belongings of poor folk wrongfully, without
mercy or measure, they shall receive by the same measure that they have measured out to poor
folk the mercy of Jesus Christ, unless it be amended. Now comes deceit betwixt merchant and
merchant. And thou shalt understand that merchandise is in many sorts; that one is bodily, and
that other is ghostly; that one is honest and lawful, and that other is dishonest and unlawful. Of
that bodily merchandise that is lawful and honest is this: that, whereas God has ordained that a
reign or a country is sufficient to himself, then is it honest and lawful that of the abundance of this
country, men help another country that is more needy. And therefore there must be merchants to
bring from that one country to that other their merchandises. [780] That other merchandise, that
men exercise with fraud and treachery and deceit, with lies and false oaths, is cursed and
damnable. Spiritual merchandise is properly simony, that is eager desire to buy a thing spiritual;
that is, a thing that appertains to the sanctuary of God and to caring for the soul. This desire, if it
so be that a man do his diligence to perform it, although it be so that his desire is not realized in
fact, yet is it to him a deadly sin; and if he be ordained, he is in violation of the rules of his order.
Certainly simony is named after Simon Magus, that would have bought for temporal riches the gift
that God had given by the Holy Ghost to Saint Peter and to the apostles. And therefore understand
that both he that sells and he that buys things spirituals are called simoniacs, be it by riches, be it
by procuring an office for someone, or by worldly prayer of his friends, worldly friends or spiritual
friends: [785]Worldly in two manners; as by kinship, or other friends. Truly, if they pray for him
that is not worthy and suitable, it is simony, if he take the benefice; and if he be worthy and
suitable, there is none. That other manner is when men or women pray for folk to advance them,
only for wicked fleshly affection that they have unto the person, and that is foul simony. But
certainly, as a reward for service, for which men give things spirituals unto their servants, it must
be understand that the service must be honest and else not; and also that it be without fraud, and
that the person be suitable. For, as says Saint Damasus, "All the sins of the world, compared to
this sin, be as thing of naught." For it is the greatest sin that can be, after the sin of Lucifer and
Antichrist. For by this sin God loses completely the church and the soul that he bought with his
precious blood, by them that give churches to them that be not worthy. [790] For they put in
thieves that steal the souls of Jesus Christ and destroy his patrimony. Because of such unworthy
priests and curates ignorant men have the less reverence of the sacraments of holy church, and
such givers of churches put out the children of Christ and put into the church the devil's own son.
They sell the souls that should guard the lambs to the wolf that destroys them. And therefore shall
they never have part of the pasture of lambs, that is the bliss of heaven. Now comes gambling
with its appurtenances, such as backgammon and raffles (a dice game), of which comes deceit,
false oaths, quarrels, and all sorts of robberies, blaspheming and renouncing God, and hate of his
neighbors, waste of goods, squandering of time, and sometimes manslaughter. Certainly,
gamblers can not be without great sin whilst they practice that craft. [795] Of Avarice come also
lies, theft, false witness, and false oaths. And you must understand that these are great sins and
expressly against the commandments of God, as I have said. False witness is in word and also in
deed. In word, as for to take away thy neighbors good name by thy false witnessing, or take away
from him his possessions or his heritage by thy false witnessing, when thou for ire, or for payment,
or for envy, bearest false witness, or accusest him or excusest him by thy false witness, or else
excusest thyself falsely. Beware, jurymen and notaries! Certainly, for false witnessing was Susanna
in very great sorrow and pain, and many another more. The sin of theft is also expressly against
God's command, and that in two manners, bodily or spiritual. Bodily, as to take thy neighbor's
possessions against his will, be it by force or by trickery, be it by measuring or by
measure; [800] by stealing also by means of false accusations upon him, and in borrowing of thy
neighbors possessions, in intent never to pay it back, and similar things. Spiritual theft is sacrilege;
that is to say, hurting of holy things, or of things sacred to Christ, in two manners: because of the
holy place, as churches or churchyards, for which every churlish sin that men do in such places
may be called sacrilege, or every violence in the similar places; also, they that withhold falsely the
rights that belong to holy church. And fully and generally, sacrilege is to take away holy thing from
holy place, or unholy thing out of holy place, or holy thing out of unholy place.
Relevacio contra peccatum Avaricie
[The Relief against the sin of Avarice].

Now shall you understand that the relieving of Avarice is mercy, and pity broadly understood. And
men might ask why mercy and pity is relieving of Avarice. [805] Certainly, the avaricious man
shows no pity nor mercy to the needy man, for he delights himself in the keeping of his treasure,
and not in the rescuing nor relieving of his fellow-Christian. And therefore speak I first of mercy.
Then is mercy, as says the Philosopher, a virtue by which the mood of a man is stirred by the
distress of h1m that is distressed. Upon which mercy follows pity in performing of charitable
works of mercy. And certainly, these things move a man to the mercy of Jesus Christ, that he gave
himself for our guilt, and suffered death for mercy, and forgave us our original sins, and thereby
released us from the pains of hell, and diminished the pains of purgatory by penitence, and gives
grace to do well, and at the last the bliss of heaven. [810] The species of mercy are, to be generous
and to give, and to forgive and release, and to have pity in heart and compassion of the suffering
of his fellow-Christian, and also to chastise, where need is. Another manner of remedy against
avarice is reasonable generosity; but truly, here behooves the consideration of the grace of Jesus
Christ, and of his temporal goods, and also of the goods eternal that Christ gave to us; and to have
remembrance of the death that he shall receive, he knows not when, where, nor how; and also
that he shall give up all that he has, save only what he has spent in good works.

But forasmuch as some folk are immoderate, men ought to avoid foolish generosity, which men
call waste. Certainly, he that is foolishly generous does not give his possessions, but he loses his
possessions. Truly, whatever thing that he gives for vainglory, as to minstrels and to folk for to
maintain his renown in the world, he has sin thereof and no (credit for) alms. [815] Certainly, he
loses foully his goods who seeks with the gift of his goods nothing but sin. He is like a horse that
seeks rather to drink dirty or troubled water than to drink water of the clear well. And forasmuch
as they give where they should not give, to them appertains that curse that Christ shall give at the
day of doom to them that shall be damned.

Sequitur de Gula
[(The section on) gluttony follows]

After Avarice comes Gluttony, which is also expressly against the commandment of God. Gluttony
is immoderate appetite to eat or to drink, or else to give enough to the immoderate appetite and
excessive covetousness to eat or to drink. This sin corrupted all this world, as is well shown in the
sin of Adam and of Eve. Note also what says Saint Paul of Gluttony: "Many," says Saint Paul, "go,
of which I have often said to you, and now I say it weeping, that are the enemies of the cross of
Christ; of which the end is death, and of which their belly is their god, and their glory in ruin of
them that so savor earthly things." He that is accustomed to this sin of gluttony, he can no sin
withstand. He must be in bondage to all vices, for it is the devil's hiding place where he hides
himself and rests. This sin has many species. The first is drunkenness, that is the horrible sepulcher
of man's reason; and therefore, when a man is drunk, he has lost his reason; and this is deadly sin.
But truly, when a man is not accustomed to strong drink, and perhaps knows not the strength of
the drink, or has feebleness in his head, or has labored, through which he drinks the more,
although he be suddenly caught with drink, it is no deadly sin, but venial. The second species of
gluttony is that the spirit of a man waxes all troubled, for drunkenness takes away from him the
discretion of his wit. [825] The third species of gluttony is when a man devours his food and has no
reasonable manner of eating. The fourth is when, through the great abundance of his food, the
humors in his body are out of balance. The fifth is forgetfulness because of too much drinking, for
which sometimes a man forgets ere the morning what he did at evening, or on the night before.

In another manner the species of Gluttony are differentiated, according to Saint Gregory. The first
is to eat before time to eat. The second is when a man gets himself too delicate food or drink. The
third is when men take too much beyond moderation. The fourth is elaborate preparation, with
great intent to prepare and adorn his food. The fifth is to eat too greedily. [830] These are the five
fingers of the devils hand, by which he draws folk to sin.

Remedium contra peccatum Gule.

[The remedy against the sin of Gluttony]

Against Gluttony the remedy is abstinence, as says Galen; but that hold I not meritorious, if he do
it only for the health of his body. Saint Augustine desires that abstinence be done for virtue and
with patience. "Abstinence," he says, "is worth little unless a man have good will thereto, and
unless it be strengthened by patience and by charity, and that men do it for God's sake, and in
hope to have the bliss of heaven."

The fellows of abstinence are temperance, that holds the mean in all things; also shame, that
eschews all disgrace; satisfaction, that seeks no rich foods nor drinks, and does not care for
excessive decoration of food; moderation also, that restrains by reason the unrestrained appetite
of eating; soberness also, that restrains the excesses of drink; [835] frugality also, that restrains
the delicate ease to sit long at his food and luxuriously, therefore some folk stand of their own will
to have less time to eat.

Sequitur de Luxuria.
(The section on) Lechery follows.

After Gluttony then comes Lechery, for these two sins are so near cousins that oftentimes they
will not separate. God knows, this sin is a very displeasing thing to God, for he said himself, "Do no
lechery." And therefore he put great pains against this sin in the old law. If bond-woman were
taken in this sin, she should be beaten with staves to the death; and if she were a gentle woman,
she should be slain with stones; and if she were a bishop's daughter, she should be burned, by
God's commandment. Furthermore, because of the sin of lechery God drowned all the world at
the deluge. And after that he burned five cities with lightening bolts, and sank them into hell.

[840] Now let us speak then of that stinking sin of Lechery that men call adultery of wedded folk;
that is to say, if that one of them is wedded, or else both. Saint John says that adulterers shall be
in hell, in a pool burning of fire and of brimstone -- in fire for their lechery, in brimstone for the
stink of their filth. Certainly, the breaking of this sacrament is a horrible thing. It was made by God
himself in paradise, and confirmed by Jesus Christ, as witnesses Saint Matthew in the gospel: "A
man shall leave father and mother and give himself to his wife, and they shall be two in one
flesh."843] This sacrament betokens the knitting together of Christ and of holy church. And not
only that God forbad adultery in deed, but also he commanded that thou shouldest not covet thy
neighbor's wife. [845] "In this commandment," says Saint Augustine, "is forbidden all sorts of
desire to do lechery." Lo, what says Saint Matthew in the gospel, that "whosoever sees a woman
to desire for his lust, he has done lechery with her in his heart." Here may you see that not only
the deed of this sin is forbidden, but also the desire to do that sin. This cursed sin annoys
grievously them that practice it. And first to their soul, for he obligates it to sin and to pain of
death that is eternal. Unto the body annoys it grievously also, for it dries it, and wastes it, and
ruins it, and of his blood he makes sacrifice to the fiend of hell. It wastes also his cattle and his
substance. And certainly, if it is a foul thing for a man to waste his possessions on women, yet is it
a fouler thing when, for such filth, women spend upon men their possessions and
substance. [850] This sin, as says the prophet, takes away from man and woman their good fame
and all their honor, and it is very pleasant to the devil, for thereby wins he the most part of this
world. And just as a merchant delights himself most in business that he has most advantage of,
just so delights the fiend in this filth.

This is that other hand of the devil with five fingers to catch the people to his villainy. The first
finger is the foolish looking of the foolish woman and of the foolish man; that slays, just as the
basilisk slays folk by the poison of his sight, for the desire of the eyes follows the desire of the
heart. The second finger is the churlish touching in wicked manner. And therefore says Solomon
that "whosoever touches and handles a woman, he fares like him that handles the scorpion that
stings and suddenly slays through his poisoning envenoming"; as whosoever touches warm pitch,
it injures his fingers. [855] The third is foul words, that fares like fire, that right away burns the
heart. The fourth finger is the kissing; and truly he would be a great fool that would kiss the mouth
of a burning oven or of a furnace. And greater fools are they that kiss in villainy, for that mouth is
the mouth of hell; and namely these old aged lechers, yet will they kiss, though they can not do,
and defile themselves. Certainly, they are similar to hounds; for a hound, when he comes by the
rosebush or by other [bushes], though he can not piss, yet will he heave up his leg and make a
pretence to piss. And because of that many a man supposes that he can not sin for any lechery
that he does with his wife, certainly, that opinion is falls. God knows, a man can slay himself with
his own knife, and make himself drunk of his own tun. [860] Certainly, be it wife, be it child, or any
worldly thing that he loves before God, it is his idol, and he is an idolater. Man should love his wife
by discretion, patiently and moderately, and then is she as though it were his sister. The fifth
finger of the devil's hand is the stinking deed of Lechery. Certainly, the five fingers of Gluttony the
fiend put in the belly of a man, and with his five fingers of Lechery he grips him by the loins for to
throw him into the furnace of hell, where they shall have the fire and the worms that ever shall
last, and weeping and wailing, sharp hunger and thirst, and] fierceness of devils, that shall all
trample them without respite and without end. [865] Of Lechery, as I said, arise diverse species, as
fornication, that is betwixt man and woman that are not married, and this is deadly sin and
against nature. All that is enemy and destruction to nature is against nature. Indeed, the reason of
a man also tells him well that it is deadly sin, forasmuch as God forbad lechery. And Saint Paul
gives them the reign that is due to no person but to them that do deadly sin. Another sin of
Lechery is to deprive a maiden of her maidenhead, for he that so does, certainly, he casteth a
maiden out of the highest degree that is in this present life and deprives her of that precious fruit
that the book calls the hundredfold fruit. I can not say it otherwise in English, but in Latin it is
called [Centesimus fructus [870] Certainly, he that does so is cause of many damages and villainies,
more than any man can reckon; just as he sometimes is cause of all damages that beasts do in the
field, that breaks the hedge or the enclosure, through which he destroys what can not be restored.
For certainly, no more can maidenhood be restored than an arm that is cut from the body can
return again to grow. She may have mercy, this know I well, if she do penitence; but never shall it
be that she was not corrupted. And although it be so that I have spoken somewhat of adultery, it
is good to show more perils that belong to adultery, for to eschew that foul sin. Adultery in Latin is
to say approaching of other man's bed, through which those that once were one flesh yield their
bodies to other persons. [875] Of this sin, as says the wise man, follow many harms. First, breaking
of faith, and certainly in faith is the key of Christianity. And when faith is broken and lost, truly
Christianity stands empty and without fruit. This sin is also a theft, for theft generally is to deprive
a person of his property against his will. Certainly, this is the foulest theft that may be, when a
woman steals her body from her husband and gives it to her lecher to befoul her, and steals her
soul from Christ and gives it to the devil. This is a fouler theft than to break into a church and steal
the chalice, for these adulterers break into the temple of God spiritually, and steal the vessel of
grace, that is the body and the soul, for which Christ shall destroy them, as says Saint
Paul. [880] Truly, of this theft greatly feared Joseph, when his lord's wife prayed him to do villainy,
when he said, "Lo, my lady, how my lord has given to me under my custody all that he has in this
world, nor nothing of his possessions is out of my power, but only you, that are his wife. And how
should I then do this wickedness, and sin so horribly against God and against my lord? God it
forbid!" Alas, all too seldom is such faithfulness now found. The third harm is the filth through
which they break the commandment of God, and befoul the author of matrimony, that is Christ.
For certainly, insomuch as the sacrament of marriage is so noble and so worthy, so much is it
greater sin to break it, for God made marriage in paradise, in the state of innocence, to multiply
mankind to the service of God. And therefore is the breaking thereof the more grievous; of which
breaking come false heirs oftentimes, that wrongfully occupy folk's heritages. And therefore will
Christ put them out of the reign of heaven, that is the heritage of good folk. [885] Of this breaking
comes also oftentimes that folk unaware wed or sin with their own kin, and namely those rogues
that frequent brothels of these foolish women, that must be likened to a common privy, where
men purge their filth. What say we also of pimps that live by the horrible sin of prostitution, and
constrain women to yield them a certain rent of their bodily prostitution, yea, sometimes of his
own wife or his child, as do these bawds? Certainly, these are cursed sins. Understand also that
Adultery is set commonly in the ten commandments betwixt theft and manslaughter; for it is the
greatest theft that may be, for it is theft of body and of soul. And it is similar to homicide, for it
carves in two and breaks to two them that first were made one flesh. And therefore, by the old
law of God, they should be slain. But nonetheless, by the law of Jesus Christ, that is law of pity,
when he said to the woman that was found in adultery, and should have been slain with stones,
after the will of the Jews, as was their law, "Go," said Jesus Christ, "and have no more desire to
sin," or, "will no more to do sin." [890] Truly the vengeance of Adultery is awarded to the pains of
hell, unless it so be that it is disturbed by penitence. Yet are there more species of this cursed sin;
as when one of them is in a religious order, or else both; or of folk that are entered into holy
orders, as subdeacon, or deacon, or priest, or Knights Hospitallers. And ever the higher that he is
in holy orders, the greater is the sin. The things that greatly aggravate their sin is the breaking of
their avow of chastity, when they received the order. And furthermore, the truth is that holy order
is chief of all the treasury of God and his especial sign and mark of chastity is to show that they are
joined to chastity, which is the most precious life that is. And these ordained folk are specially
dedicated to God, and of the special household of God, for which, when they do deadly sin, they
are the special traitors of God and of his people; for they live off the people, to pray for the
people, and while they are such traitors, their prayer avails not to the people. [895] Priests are
angels, as by the dignity of their profession; but truly, Saint Paul says that Satan transforms
himself into an angel of light. Truly, the priest that practices deadly sin, he may be likened to the
angel of darkness transformed into the angel of light. He seems angel of light, but truly he is angel
of darkness. Such priests be the sons of Helie, XXX check 2] kings as shows in the Book of Kings,
that they were the sons of Belial -- that is, the devil. Belial is to say, "without yoke." And so fare
they; it seems to them that they are free and have no yoke, no more than has a bull that runs free
and that takes whichever cow that he likes in the town. So fare they concerning women. For just
as one free bull is enough for all a town, just so is a wicked priest corruption enough for all a
parish, or for all a country. [900] These priests, as says the book, know not the office of priesthood
to the people, nor God they know not. They considered themselves not satisfied, as says the book,
by cooked meat that was offered to them, but they took by force the meat that is raw. Certainly,
so these rascals consider themselves not satisfied by roasted meat and boiled meat, with which
the people feed them in great reverence, but rather they will have raw flesh of folkÂ’s wives and
their daughters. And certainly, these women that consent to their lechery do great wrong to
Christ, and to holy church, and all saints, and to all souls; for they take away all these from him
that should worship Christ and holy church and pray for Christian souls. And therefore have such
priests, and their lovers also that consent to their lechery, the curse of all the ecclesiastical court,
until they come to amendment. The third species of adultery is sometime betwixt a man and his
wife, and that is when in their having intercourse they take no regard but only to their fleshly
delight, as says Saint Jerome, [905] and reckon of nothing but that they have intercourse; because
they are married, all is good enough, as it seems to them. But in such folk the devil has power, as
said the angel Raphael to Tobias, for in their intercourse they put Jesus Christ out of their heart
and give themselves to all filth. The fourth species is the intercourse of those that are of their
relationship by blood, or of those that are related by marriage, or else with them with which their
fathers or their kinsmen have dealt in the sin of lechery. This sin makes them similar to hounds,
that pay no attention to kinship. And certainly, kinship is in two manners, either spiritual or
fleshly; spiritual, as for to deal with the children of one's godparents. For just as he that engenders
a child is his fleshly father, just so his godfather is his father spiritual. For which a woman may
have intercourse with her spiritual kin in no less sin than with her own fleshly brother. [910] The
fifth species is that abominable sin, of which no man hardly ought to speak nor write; nonetheless
it is openly narrated in holy writ. This cursedness do men and women in diverse intent and in a
variety of ways; but though that holy writ speak of horrible sin, certainly holy writ can not be
befouled, no more than the sun that shines on the dung hill. Another sin pertains to lechery, that
comes in sleeping, and this sin comes often to them that are maidens, and also to them that are
corrupt; and this sin men call pollution, that comes in four manners. Sometimes of weakness of
body, for the humors are too profuse and too abundant in the body of man; sometimes of
infirmity, for the feebleness of the power to retain fluids, as the science of medicine physic makes
mention; sometimes for surfeit of food and drink; and sometimes of churlish thoughts that are
enclosed in man's mind when he goes to sleep, which can not be without sin; for which men must
guard themselves wisely, or else may men sin very grievously.

Remedium contra peccatum Luxurie.

The remedy against the sin of Lechery.
[915] Now comes the remedy against Lechery, and that is generally chastity and continence, that
restrains all the excessive inclinations that come of fleshly desires. And ever the greater merit shall
he have that most restrains the wicked inflammations of the [ardor] of this sin. And this is in two
manners -- that is to say, chastity in marriage, and chastity of widowhood. Now shalt thou
understand that matrimony is lawful assembling of man and of woman that receive by virtue of
the sacrament the bond through which they can not be separated in all their life -- that is to say,
while they live both. This, as says the book, is a very great sacrament. God made it, as I have said,
in paradise, and would himself be born in marriage. And for to sanctify marriage he was at a
wedding, where he turned water into wine, which was the first miracle that he wrought in earth
before his disciples.[920] True effect of marriage cleanses fornication and replenishes holy church
with good lineage, for that is the end of marriage; and it changes deadly sin into venial sin betwixt
those that are wedded, and makes the hearts completely united of them that are wedded, as well
as the bodies. This is true marriage, that was established by God, ere sin began, when natural law
was in is proper condition in paradise; and it was ordained that one man should have but one
woman, and one woman but one man, as says Saint Augustine, by many reasons.

First, because marriage is symbolized betwixt Christ and holy church. And that other is for a man is
head of a woman; at any rate, properly it should be so. For if a woman had mo men than one, then
should she have more heads than one, and that were an horrible thing before God; and also a
woman could not please too many folk at once. And also there should never be peace nor rest
among them, for every one would ask his own thing. And furthermore, no man should know his
own engendering, nor who should have his heritage; and the woman should be the less beloved
from the time that she was joined to many men.

[925] Now comes how that a man should conduct himself with his wife, and namely in

two things; that is to say, in patience and reverence, as showed Christ when he made first woman.
For he made her not of the head of Adam, for she should not claim too great lordship. For where
the woman has the mastery, she makes too much disorder. There needs no examples of this; the
experience of day by day ought suffice. Also, certainly, God made not woman of the foot of Adam,
for she should not be considered too low; for she can not patiently suffer. But God made woman
of the rib of Adam, for woman should be fellow unto man. Man should conduct himself to his wife
in faith, in truth, and in love, as says Saint Paul, that a man should love his wife as Christ loved
holy church, who loved it so well that he died for it. So should a man for his wife, if it were
need. [930] Now how a woman should be subject to their husband, that tells Saint Peter. First, in
obedience. And also, as says the decree, a woman that is wife, as long as she is a wife, she has no
authority to swear nor to bear witness without leave of her husband, that is their lord; at any rate,
he should be so by reason. She should also serve him in all honesty, and be moderate of her array.
I know well that they should set their intent to please their husbands, but not by their elaborate
fashion of dress. Saint Jerome says that "wives that are appareled in silk and in precious purple
can not clothe themselves in Jesus Christ." Look what Saint John says also in this matter? Saint
Gregory also says that "No person seeks precious array but only for vainglory, to be honored the
more before the people." [935] It is a great folly, a woman to have a fair array outward and in
herself be foul inward. A wife should also be moderate in looking and in bearing and in laughing,
and discreet in all her words and her deeds. And above all worldly thing she should love their
husband with all her heart, and to him be true of her body. So should a husband also be to his
wife. For since that all the body is the husband's, so should their heart be, or else there is betwixt
them two, as in that, no perfect marriage. Then shall men understand that for three things a man
and his wife may fleshly assemble. The first is in intent of engendering of children to the service of
God, for certainly that is the cause final of matrimony. [940] Another cause is to yield each of them
to other the debt of their bodies, for neither of them has power of his own body. The third is to
eschew lechery and churlishness. The fourth is truly deadly sin. As to the first, it is meritorious; the
second also, for, as says the decree, that she has merit of chastity that yields to their husband the
debt of her body, yea, though it be against her will and the desire of her heart. The third manner is
venial sin; and, truly, scarcely can there any of these be without venial sin, because of for the
corruption and because of the delight. The fourth manner is for to be understood, if they assemble
only for amorous love and for none of the aforesaid causes, but for to accomplish that burning
delight, they reckon never how often. Truly it is deadly sin; and yet, with sorrow, some folk will
exert themselves to do more than to their appetite suffices.

The second manner of chastity is for to be a clean widow, and eschew the embraces of man, and
desire the embracing of Jesus Christ. [945] These are those that have are wives and have lost their
husbands, and also women that have done lechery and are relieved by penitence. And certainly, if
a wife could keep herself all chaste by permission of her husband, so that she never give any
occasion that he do wrong, it would be to her a great merit. These sorts of women that observe
chastity must be clean in heart as well as in body and in thought, and moderate in clothing and in
behavior, and be abstinent in eating and drinking, in speaking, and in deed. They are the vessel or
the box of the blessed Magdalene, that fulfills holy church with good odor. The third manner of
chastity is virginity, and it is fitting that she be holy in heart and clean of body. Then is she spouse
to Jesus Christ, and she is the life of angels. She is the praising of this world, and she is equal to
these martyrs; she has in her what tongue can not tell nor heart think. [950] Virginity bore our
Lord Jesus Christ, and he was virgin himself.

Another remedy against Lechery is specially to withdraw such things as give occasion to that
villainy, such as ease, eating, and drinking. For certainly, when the pot boils strongly, the best
remedy is to withdraw the fire. Sleeping long in great quiet is also a great nurse to Lechery.
Another remedy against Lechery is that a man or a woman eschew the company of them by which
he fears to be tempted, for although it may be so that the deed be withstood, yet is there great
temptation. Truly, a white wall, although it burn not fully by placing of a candle, yet is the wall
blackened by the flame. [955] Very oftentimes I read that no man should trust in his own
perfection, unless he be stronger than Sampson, and holier than David, and wiser than Solomon.
Now according to what I have declared to you, so far as I know how, the seven deadly sins, and
some of their branches and their remedies, truly, if I could, I would tell you the ten
commandments. But so high a doctrine I leave to theologians. Nonetheless, I hope to God, they be
touched in this treatise, every one of them all.

Sequitur secunda pars Penitencie

[Now follows the second part of Penance.]

Now forasmuch as the second part of Penitence consists of confession of mouth, as I began in the
first chapter, I say, Saint Augustine says, "Sin is every word and every deed, and all that men
covet, against the law of Jesus Christ; and this is to sin in heart, in mouth, and in deed, by thy five
wits, that are sight, hearing, smelling, tasting or savoring, and feeling." [960] Now is it good to
understand the circumstances that aggravate much every sin. Thou shalt consider what thou art
that doest the sin, whether thou be male or female, young or old, gentle or serf, free or servant,
whole or sick, wedded or single, in holy orders or unordered, wise or fool, clerk or secular; if she
be of thy kindred, bodily or spiritually, or not; if any of thy kindred have sinned with her, or not;
and many more things. Another circumstance is this: whether it be done in fornication or in
adultery or not, incest or not, maiden or not, in manner of homicide or not, horrible great sins or
small, and how long thou hast continued in sin. The third circumstance is the place where thou
hast done sin, whether in other men's house or in thine own, in field or in church or in churchyard,
in church consecrated or not.[965] For if the church be sanctified, and man or woman spill his
semen within that place by way of sin or by wicked temptation, the church is interdicted until it be
reconciled by the bishop. And the priest should be interdicted that did such a villainy; to the end
of all his life he should no more sing mass, and if he did, he should do deadly sin at every time that
he so sang mass. The fourth circumstance is by which mediators, or by which messengers, as for
enticement, or for consenting to bear company with fellowship; for many a wretch, for to bear
company, will go to the devil of hell. Wherefore they that incite or consent to the sin are partners
of the sin, and of the damnation of the sinner.

The fifth circumstance is how many times that he has sinned, if it be in his mind, and how often
that he has fallen. [970] For he that often false in sin, he despises the mercy of God, and increases
his sin, and is unnaturally rebellious to Christ; and he grows the more feeble to withstand sin, and
sins the more easily, and the latter arises, and is the more reluctant to confess himself, and
namely, to him that is his confessor. For which that folk, when they fall again in their old follies,
either they abandon their old confessors all utterly or else they divide their confession in diverse
places; but truly, such divided confession deserves no mercy of God of his sins. The sixth
circumstance is that a man sins, as by which temptation, and if himself procure that temptation, or
by the inciting of other folk; or if he sin with a woman by force, or by her own assent; or if the
woman, despite her heed, has been forced, or not. This shall she tell: for greed, or for poverty, and
if it was her contrivance, or not; and such sorts of circumstances. [975] The seventh circumstance
is in what manner he has done his sin, or how she has allowed what folk have done to her. And
the same shall the man tell completely in full detail; and whether he has sinned with common
prostitutes or not, or done his sin in holy times or not, in fasting times or not, or before his
confession, or after his most recent confession, and has perhaps broken therefore his assigned
penance, by whose help and whose counsel, by sorcery or craft; all must be told. All these things,
according to whether they be great or small, burden the conscience of man. And also the priest,
who is thy judge, can the better be advised of his judgment in giving of thy penance, and that is
according to thy contrition. [980] For understand well that after the time that a man has befouled
his baptism by sin, if he will come to salvation, there is no other way but by penitence and
confession and satisfaction, and namely by the two, if there be a confessor to which he may
confess himself, and the third, if he have life to perform it.

Then shall man look and consider that if he will make a true and a profitable confession, there
must be four conditions. First, it must be in sorrowful bitterness of heart, as said the king Hezekiah
to God, "I will remember all the years of my life in bitterness of my heart." This condition of
bitterness has five signs. The first is that confession must be made with a sense of shame, not to
cover nor hide his sin, for he has sinned against his God and befouled his soul. [985] And hereof
says Saint Augustine, "The heart suffers for shame of its sin"; and because he has great sense of
shame, he is worthy to have great mercy of God. Such was the confession of the tax-collector that
would not heave up his eyes to heaven, for he had offended God of heaven; for which sense of
shame he had straightway the mercy of God. And thereof says Saint Augustine that such shame-
fast folk are nearest to forgiveness and remission. Another sign is humility in confession, of which
says Saint Peter, "Humble yourself under the might of God." The hand of God is mighty in
confession, for thereby God forgives thee thy sins, for he alone has the power. And this humility
shall be in heart and in outward sign, for just as he has humility to God in his heart, just so should
he humble his body outward to the priest, that sits in God's place. [990] For which in no manner,
since Christ is sovereign, and the priest agent and mediator betwixt Christ and the sinner, and the
sinner is the last by way of reason, then should not the sinner sit as high as his confessor, but
kneel before him or at his feet, unless illness disturb it. For he shall not take note of who sits
there, but in whose place that he sits. A man that has trespassed against a lord, and comes to ask
mercy and make his reconciliation, and set him down at once by the lord, men would consider him
presumptuous, and not worthy so soon to have remission nor mercy. The third sign is how thy
confession should be full of tears, if man can, and if man can not weep with his bodily eyes, let
him weep in heart. Such was the confession of Saint Peter, for after he had forsaken Jesus Christ,
he went out and wept very bitterly. [995] The fourth sign is that he cease not for shame to show
his confession. Such was the confession of the Magdalene, that spared not for any shame of them
that were at the feast, for to go to our Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledge to him her sin. The fifth
sign is that a man or a woman be obedient to receive the penance that to him is assigned for his
sins, for certainly, Jesus Christ, for the guilt of one man, was obedient to the death.

The second condition of true confession is that it be hastily done. For certainly, if a man had a
deadly wound, ever the longer that he delayed to cure himself, the more would it corrupt and
hasten him to his death, and also the wound would be the worse to heal. And right so fares sin
that long time is in a man unconfessed. [1000] Certainly, a man ought hastily show his sins for
many causes; as for dread of death, that comes often suddenly, and no certainty what time it shall
be, nor in what place; and also the continuance of one sin draws in another; and also the longer
that he delays, the farther he is from Christ. And if he abide to his last day, scarcely can he confess
himself or remind himself of his sins or repent himself, for the grievous illness of his death. And
forasmuch as he has not in his life hearkened to Jesus Christ when he has spoken, he shall cry to
Jesus Christ at his last day, and scarcely will he hearken him. And understand that this condition
must have four things. Thy confession must be prepared before and deliberated; for wicked haste
does no profit; and that a man should know how to confess himself of his sins, be it of pride, or of
envy, and so forth with the species and circumstances; and that he has comprehended in his mind
the number and the greatness of his sins, how long that he has lain in sin; [1005] and also that he
be contrite of his sins, and in steadfast purpose, by the grace of God, never again to fall into sin;
and also that he dread and watch out for himself, that he flee the occasions of sin to which he is
inclined. Also thou shalt confess thyself of all thy sins to one man, and not one part to one man
and one part to another; that is to understand, in intent to divide thy confession, as for shame or
dread, for it is nothing but strangling of thy soul. For certainly Jesus Christ is entirely all good; in
him is no imperfection, and therefore either he forgives all perfectly or else not a bit. I say not that
if thou are assigned to the priest who assigns penance for a certain sin, that thou art bound to
show him all the remnant of thy sins, of which thou hast been confessed by thy curate, unless it
pleases to thee of thy humility; this is no division of shrift. Nor I say not, where I speak of division
of confession, that if thou have license to confess thee to a discreet and an honest priest, where it
pleases thee , and by permission of thy curate, that thou canst not well confess thyself to him of
all thy sins. [1010] But let no stain of sin be behind; let no sin be unconfessed, so far as thou hast
remembrance. And when thou shalt be confessed to thy curate, tell him also all the sins that thou
hast done since thou were last confessed; this is no wicked intent of division of confession.

Also the true confession requires certain conditions. First, that thou confess thyself by thy free
will, not constrained, nor for public shame, nor for illness, nor such things. For it is reasonable that
he who trespasses by his free will, that by his free will he confess his trespass, and that no other
man tell his sin but he himself; nor he shall not disclaim nor deny his sin, nor anger himself against
the priest for his admonishing to abandon sin. The second condition is that thy confession be
lawful; that is to say, that thou that confesses thyself and also the priest that hears thy confession
be truly in the faith of holy church, [1015] and that a man be not in despair of the mercy of Jesus
Christ, as Cain or Judas. And also a man must accuse himself of his own trespass, and not another;
but he shall blame and reproach himself and his own malice of his sin, and none other. But
nonetheless, if that another man be occasion or enticer of his sin, or the state of a person be such
through which his sin is aggravated, or else that he may not completely confess himself unless he
tell the person with whom he has sinned, then may he tell it, provided that his intent be not to
backbite the person, but only to declare his confession.

Thou shalt not also make any lies in thy confession, for humility, perhaps, to say that thou hast
done sins of which thou were never guilty. [1020] For Saint Augustine says, "If thou, by cause of
thy humility, makest lies on thyself, though thou were not in sin before, yet art thou then in sin
through thy lies." Thou most also show thy sin by thy own proper mouth, except if thou be grown
dumb, and not by any letter; for thou that hast done the sin, thou shalt have the shame therefore.
Thou shalt not also paint thy confession by faire subtle words, to cover the more thy sin; for then
beguilest thou thyself, and not the priest. Thou most tell it flatly, be it never so foul nor so
horrible. Thou shalt also confess thyself to a priest who is discreet in giving thee counsel; and also
thou shalt not confess thyself for vainglory, nor for hypocrisy, nor for any cause but only for the
fear of Jesus Christ and the health of thy soul. Thou shalt not also run to the priest quickly to tell
him easily thy sin, as whosoever tells a joke or a tale, but deliberately and with great
devotion. [1025] And generally, confess thyself often. If thou often fall, often thou arise by
confession. And though thou confess thyself more often than once of sin of which thou hast been
confessed, it is the more merit. And, as says Saint Augustine, thou shalt have the more easily
forgiveness and grace of God, both of sin and of pain. And certainly, once a year at the least way it
is lawful to be given communion, for certainly, once a year all things renew themselves.

Now have I told you of true Confession, that is the second part of Penitence.

Explicit secunda pars Penitencie,

et sequitur tercia pars eiusdem,
[The second part of penitence ends,
and its third part follows.]
The third part of Penitence is Satisfaction, and that consists most generally in alms and in bodily
pain. [1030] Now there are three sorts of alms: contrition of heart, where a man offers himself to
God; another is to have pity of the sin of his neighbors; and the third is in giving of good counsel
and comfort, spiritual and bodily, where men have need, and namely in sustenance of man's food.
And take note that a man has need of these things generally: he has need of food, he has need of
clothing and lodging, he has need of charitable counsel and visiting in prison and in illness, and
burial of his dead body. And if thou canst not visit the needy with thy person, visit him by thy
message and by thy gifts. These are general alms or works of charity of them that have temporal
riches or discretion in counseling. Of these works shalt thou hear at the day of judgment.

These alms shalt thou do of thine own personal property, and hastily and privately, if thou
canst. [1035] But nonetheless, if thou canst not do it privately, thou shalt not forbear to do alms
though men see it, so that it be not done for gratitude of the world, but only for gratitude of Jesus
Christ. For, as witnesses Saint Mathew, [capitulo quinto [in the fifth chapter]. "A city can not be hid
that is set on a mountain, nor men light not a lantern and put it under a bushel, but men set it on a
candle-stick to give light to the men in the house. Just so shall your light lighten before men, that
they can see your good works, and glorify your father that is in heaven."

Now to speak of bodily pain, it consists of prayers, in keeping vigil, in fasts, in virtuous teachings of
orisons. And you shall understand that orisons or prayers is for to say a pious will of heart, that
directs itself toward God and expresses it by word outward, to remove harms and to have things
spiritual and durable, and sometimes temporal things; of which orisons, certainly, in the orison of
the [Pater noster[Our father] has Jesus Christ enclosed must things. [1040] Certainly, it is endowed
with three things in its dignity, for which it is more worthy than any other prayer, because Jesus
Christ himself made it; and it is short, so that it should be learned the more easily, and to retain it
the more easily in heart, and help himself the more often with the orison, and so that a man
should be the less weary to say it, and so that a man can not excuse himself for not learning it, it is
so short and so easy, and because it comprehends in itself all good prayers. The exposition of this
holy prayer, that is so excellent and worthy, I entrust to these masters of theology, save thus
much will I say; that when thou prayest that God should forgive thee thy trespasses as thou
forgivest them that do wrong to thee, be very well aware that thou art not out of charity. This holy
orison reduces also venial sin, and therefore it pertains specially to penitence.

[1045] This prayer must be truly said, and in true faith, and that men pray to God in an orderly
manner and discreetly and devoutly; and always a man must put his will to be subject to the will
of God. This orison must also be said with great humbleness and very purely, honestly and not to
the annoyance of any man or woman. It must also be continued with the works of charity. It avails
also against the vices of the soul, for, as says Saint Jerome, "By fasting are saved the vices of the
flesh, and by prayer the vices of the soul."

After this, thou shalt understand that bodily pain consists of keeping vigil, for Jesus Christ says,
"Keep vigil and pray, that you not enter in wicked temptation." You shall understand also that
fasting consists of three things: in refraining from bodily mete and drink, and in refraining from
worldly jollity, and in refraining from deadly sin; this is to say, that a man shall keep him from
deadly sin with all his might.
[1050] And thou shalt understand also that God ordained fasting, and to fasting pertain four
things: generosity to poor folk, gladness of heart spiritual, not to be angry nor annoyed, nor
grouch because he fasts, and also reasonable hour for to eat; eat by measure; that is for to say, a
man shall not eat at inappropriate times, nor sit the longer at his table to eat because he fasts.

Then shalt thou understand that bodily pain consists of discipline either teaching, by word, or by
writing, or in example; also in wearing of hair shirts, or of coarse cloth, or of coats of mail on their
naked flesh, for Christ's sake, and such manner penances. But beware thee well that such sorts of
penances on thy flesh not make thy heart bitter or angry or annoyed of thyself, for better is to cast
away thy hair shirt, than to cast away the sweetness of Jesus Christ. And therefore says Saint Paul,
"Clothe yourself in heart, as they that are chosen by God, with mercy, meekness, forbearance, and
such sort of clothing," of which Jesus Christ is more pleased than by hair shirts, or coats of mail, or
plate armor.

[1055] Then is discipline also in knocking of thy breast, in whipping with sticks, in kneeling, in
tribulations, in suffering patiently wrongs that are done to thee, and also in patient suffering of
maladies, or losing of worldly possessions, or of wife, or of child, or other friends.

Then shalt thou understand what things disturb penance; and this is in four manners: that is,
dread, shame, hope, and wanhope, that is despair. And for to speak first of dread, for which he
supposes that he can tolerate no penance; there-against is remedy for to think that bodily
penance is but short and little in regard to the pain of hell, that is so cruel and so long that it lasts
without end.

[1060] Now against the shame that a man has to confess himself, and namely these hypocrites
that would be held so perfect that they have no need to confess themselves; against that shame
should a man think that, by way of reason, that he that has not been ashamed to do foul things,
certainly him ought not to be ashamed to do fair things, and that is confessions. A man should also
think that God sees and know all his thoughts and all his works, to him can no thing be hid nor
covered. Men should also remind themselves of the shame that is to come at the day of doom to
them that be not penitent and confessed in this present life. For all the creatures in heaven, in
earth, and in hell shall see clearly all that they hide in this world.

[1065] Now to speak of the hope of them that are negligent and slow to shrive themselves, which
consists of two sorts. That one is that he hopes to live long and to obtain much riches for his
delight, and then he will confess himself; and, as he says, it seems to him then timely enough to
come to confession. Another is of presumption that he has in Christ's mercy. Against the first vice,
he shall think that our life is in no security, and also that all the riches in this world are at risk and
pass as a shadow on the wall; and, as says Saint Gregory, that it pertains to the great
righteousness of God that never shall the pain stint of them that never would withdraw
themselves from sin, voluntarily, but ever continue in sin; for that perpetual will to do sin shall
they have perpetual pain.

[1070] Despair is of two sorts: the first despair is in the mercy of Christ; that other is that they
think that they might not long persevere in goodness. The first despair comes from that he
supposes that he has sinned so greatly and so often, and so long lain in sin, that he shall not be
saved. Certainly, against that cursed despair should he think that the passion of Jesus Christ is
more strong to unbind than sin is strong to bind. Against the second despair he shall think that as
often as he falls he may arise again by penitence. And though he never so long have lain in sin, the
mercy of Christ is always ready to receive him to mercy. Against the despair that he supposes that
he should not long persevere in goodness, he shall think that the feebleness of the devil can do
nothing, unless men will allow him; [1075] and also he shall have strength of the help of God, and
of all holy church, and of the protection of angels, if he wishes.

Then shall men understand what is the fruit of penance; and, according to the word of Jesus
Christ, it is the endless bliss of heaven, where joy has no contrary of woe nor grievance; where all
harms of this present life are passed; there is the safety from the pain of hell; there is the blissful
company that rejoice themselves evermore, every one of others' joy; there the body of man, that
formerly was foul and dark, is more clear than the sun; there the body, that formerly was sick,
frail, and feeble, and mortal, is immortal, and so strong and so healthy that there can no thing
injure it; there is neither hunger, thirst, nor cold, but every soul replenished with the sight of the
perfect knowing of God. [1080] This blissful reign may men purchase by poverty spiritual, and the
glory by lowness, the plenty of joy by hunger and thirst, and the rest by travail, and the life by
death and mortification of sin.

Here the maker of this book takes his leave

Now pray I to them all that listen to this little treatise or read it, that if there be any thing in it that
pleases them, that thereof they thank our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom proceeds all wit and all
goodness. And if there be any thing that displeases them, I pray them also that they blame it on
the fault of my lack of wit and not to my will, that would much prefer to have said better if I had
had cunning. For our book says, "All that is written is written for our doctrine," and that is my
intent. Wherefore I beseech you meekly, for the mercy of God, that you pray for me that Christ
have mercy on me and forgive me my sins; [1085] and namely of my translations and compositions
of worldly vanities, the as is the book of Troilus; the book also of Fame; the book of the XXV.
Ladies; the book of the Duchesse; the book of Saint Valentines day of the Parliament of Birds; the
tales of Canterbury, those that tend toward sin; the book of the Lion; and many another book, if
they were in my remembrance, and many a song and many a lecherous lyric, that Christ for his
great mercy forgive me the sin. But of the translation of Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, and
other books of legends of saints, and homilies, and morality, and devotion, that thank I our Lord
Jesus Christ and his blissful Mother, and all the saints of heaven, [1090] beseeching them that they
from henceforth unto my life's end send me grace to bewail my sins and to study to the salvation
of my soul, and grant me grace of true penitence, confession and satisfaction to do in this present
life, through the benign grace of him that is king of kings and priest over all priests, that bought us
with the precious blood of his heart, so that I may be one of them at the day of doom that shall be
saved. Qui cum Patre et Spiritu Sancto vivit et regnat Deus per omnia secula. [He who lives and
reigns with the Father and Holy Spirit, God, world without end.] Amen.

Here is ended the book of the tales of Canterbury, compiled by

Geffrey Chaucer, of whose soul Jesus Christ have mercy. Amen.